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ESIDENT 6ARFIELD 




EARLY LIFE, WAR RECORD, PUBLIC SPEECHES. 
MAXIMS, INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 

ASSASSINATION, 

fOUCHma IHCIDENTS OP HIS 

Sufferings, Death and Burial, 

JijZC, 'Etc., Etc. 

CHICAGO: 

Rhodes & McClure, Puhi.ishers, 
1881. 




GEN. JAMEtS A. GARFIELD. 




IIRS. JA^^IES A. GARFIELD. 




GEN. GARFIELD'S ForiMER RESIDENCE AT IIIRAM, OHIO. 




MARY. JAMES. HARRY. IRWIN. ABRAM 

GENERAL GARFIELD'S CHILDREN. 



GEN. GARFIELD 

FROM THE 

LOG CABIN 



TO THE 



WHITE HOUSE, 




d-fi 



Including His Early History, War Record, Public 
Speeches, Nomination, Inauguration, Assassin- 
ation, Death and Burial. 



A 



EDITED BY 

Compiler of "Moody's Auecilotes," "Moody's Child Stories," " Edison and His 

Inventions." " Lincoln's Stories." " Mistakes of Ingersoll," " Stories 

and Sketches of (ien. Grant," "Entertaining Anecdotes," 

" Replies to Ingersoll on Thomas Paine," 

" Stories anil Sketches of Chicago," 

Etc., Etc., Etc. 



CHICAGO: }'' 
RHODES & McCLURE, PUBLISHERS. 

1881. 



% 



.hMl^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by 
J. B. incOlure &c R. S. Rhodes, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at WashiQirton. 




A new interest now attaches to every incident, and story, 
and everything that entered into and made up the great life 
of the immortal Garfield. This volume presents, in] an 
exceedingly interesting manner, all the essential points in 
the life of the martyred President, including that seem- 
ingly saddest of all events, his assassination, over which, 
it is said, three hundred millions of people mourned. Near 
the close of the volume will be found the final funeral service 
on the great " Memorial Day," an event unparralleled in 

the history of man. 

J. B. McCLURE. 

Cbicago, Oct. lo, 1881. 




Page. 
Anecdote of Gen. Garfield at Murfreesboro, Illustrating a 

Noble Trait of His Character 130 

Anecdote of Garfield's Early Life — His Greatness Antici- 
pated by a "Woman in Connection with a Laughable In- 
cident 33 

An Interesting Reminiscence— Garfield and Arthur both 
^?chool Teachers in the Same Eoom at Xorth Pownal, 
Vermont 33 

An Interesting Story in Connection with the Sick-room- 
Gen. Garfield as a Reader 41 

An Interesting Reminiscence of Garfield's Youth— A Letter 
He Wrote Twenty-three Years Ago that Helped to Make 
a College President, and that President Xow Reads It 
to His Students 119 

A Pen Picture of Garfield 34 

A Splendid Record — Summary of Garfield's Labors— Tlie 

Rewards of Industry 49 

A Trying Ordeal — In the Hands of the Doctors— Melting 
Down ;ui "Ague Cake" with Calomel!— How the Cruci- 
ble (Young Garfield) Endured It— He is Saved by a Kind 

^lother 2/ 

Arthur's Letter of Acceptance 163 

X. 



CONTENTS. 



Boyhood of Gen, Garfield— The Farmer Boy on the Tow- 
path— A Tough Time— Good Health and Indomitahle 
Energy Triumphant IS 

o 

Chester A. Arthur— Sketch of His Life 150 

Col. Garfield's First Great Battle— He Defeats Humphrey 

Marshall and Wins a Brigadier-Generalship 58 

Comparative Statement of Ballots 93 

Closing Scenes in Garfield's War Kecord— Why He Left the 

Army 66 

ID 

Dignity of American Citizenship — Garfield's Speech in Wash- 
ington, June 16, 18S0 ., 132 

Dying Words of Gen. Garfield's Father— He Leaves His Four 

Children in Care of His Wife 115 

Enthusiasm on Fire — Making the Xomination of Gen. Gar- 
field Unanimous at the Chicago Republican Conven- 
tion — Speeches of Messrs. Conkling, Logan, Beaver, 
Hale, Pleasants, and Harrison 98 

First Vote for Garfield in the Chicago Convention— The Man 
Wlao Gave It Voted for Zachary Taylor and Abraham 
Lincoln Under Like Circumstances 107' 

Full Details of Garfield's Poittid Gap Expedition— Strategy 

and Victory— Battle of Pittsburg Landing, etc 59 



CONTENTS. 

a- 

Carfickl at College— He Graduates with High Honors— His 
PtTsuiiul Appfarance at This Period that of a Xewly 
liuportod Dutclimau 27 

Garfiehl a Jloine — His Residence in Mentor— His Family 

and His Mother 42 

Garfield in War— How He Volunteered to Put Down tlie 
Rebellion, and was Promoted— Interesting Incidents on 
the Field of Battle 53 

Garfield 2s omination Joke Ill 

Garfield on the Dcinocracy- Extract from One of His Old 

Speeches— His "Walk in the Democratic Graveyard 73 

Gai-field "Photographed" by "Gath"— A Remarkably In- 
teresting Pen Picture of the Great Man— His Physical, 
Social, Moral, and Intellectual Powers 4r. 

Garfield's Celebrated Speech at the Andersonville Reunion 
Held at Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 3, 1879- How the General 
Looks " Without Gloves ! " 78 

Garfii'ld's Extra Session Speech — Turning on the Light 128 

Garfield's First Ride on the Cars— First Yisit to Columbus- 
First School, Etc.— Interesting Reminiscences 126 

Garfield's Great Speech at Columbus, Acknowledging His 

Election as United States Senator 83 

Garfield's Life in Hiram Sketched by President Hinsdale, of 

Ilirani College— An Interesting History IIG 

Garfit'ld's School Days— He Attends a High School— Takes 
His Frying-pan Along— The Old, Old Story of What 
Grit Will Do 25 

Garfield's Si)eech at the Wisconsin Republican Reunion- 
Outlining the Condition of the Country '. 76 

Hen. Garfield as a Wood-Chopper— He Contracts to Put Ip 
Twenty-fivo Cords— His A'isit to Cleveland Harbor, 
and Laughable Interview with " The Captain 19 

Gen. Garfield's Letter of Acceptance 142 



CONTENTS. 

Gen. Garfield En Koute for Home After His Nomination lor 
President— From Illinois to Ohio— Incidents and Wel- 
comes by the Way i'»- 

Gen. Garfield is Called to the Halls of Congress from tlic 
Fields of War- How it was Done— Early Experience of 
the Farmer Boy on the Floor <i9 

Gen. Garfield on the Floor of the Great Chicago Convention 
—Full Text of Ills Eloquent Speech Nominating John 
Sherman for President— Delivered June 5, ISSO 87 

Gen. Garfield's First Important Speech After His Xoinina- 
tion— It is Delivered to the Students of Hiram College 
on " Commencement Day " — An Interesting Address. . . 44 

Gen. Garfield's Marriage— A Happy Home— What tlie Gen- 
eral Says of His Wife 31 

Gen. Garfield's Proclamation to the Citizens of Sandy 

Valley '52 

Gen. Garfield's Speech Before the Hiram College Reunion 
Association — The Commencement Day of 1880 Long to 
be Eemembered 12S 



H 



Heroic Conduct of Gen. Garfield on the Field of Chicka- 
mauga— Driving Back Longstreet's Columns and Saving 
Gen. Thomas 6;* 

How the News of Garfield's Nomination was Received at 

Hiram College— Ringing the Old I3ell lOT 



Increasing Fame of the College President— His Election to 

the State Senate, and What He Did 38 



CONTENTS. 



OfiE the Tow-path— Why Young Garfield Abandoned the 
Canal— A Providential Escape that Set Him to Think- 
ing and Sent Iliui Home 22 



Professor Garfield in the Hiram Eclectic Institute — He 
Becomes President of the Institution — How He Became 
a Preacher 29 

President Hinsdale's Stories and Tribute to Gen. Garfield, 
the Man who was in Hiram College Before Him— The 
Canal and Wood-Chopping Incidents — How He Made 
Success Possible, and Why He Succeeded 36 



Seventeen years a Member of Congress— Garfield's Great 

Work in the Halls of Legislation— A Triumphant Leader 71 

Summary of Ballots in the National Republican Conven- 
tion — Nominating Garfield for President 97 



The Break to Garfield— Thirty-fourth Ballot 94 

The Canal Story, Told by Garfield's Employer 13-i 

The Way Garfield Got His Military Education 140 

The General and Fugitive Slave 141 

The Habits and Methods of Garfield 138 

" The ]\Iembers from New York " 133 

The Turning Point in Garfield's Life 135 

The Thirty-lif th ]',allot 95 

The Thirty-sixth and Last Ballot— Garfield Nominated 96 

The Full Particulars of the Assassination 166 

The Story of Col. Rockwell 174 

The Suffering President— Incidents on the Sick Bed 178 

The Medical Record ISO 

The Run to Long Branch 181 

The Engineer's Story 185 

The Last Days' Bulletin 188 

The Death Bed Scene. 189 



CONTENTS. 

'The Autopsy lOi 

The Mother and Her Dead Son 193 

The Services in the Francklyn Cottage 190 

The Body in State in the Capitol Kotunda at Washington. .. 198 

Services at the Vault in Cleveland 200 

' The End," by J. G. Holland 209 

The World Wide Sympathy 210 

Affecting Incidents 211 

The Birth Place of Gen. Gairfield— How it Looked on the 

Great Memorial Day 213 

The Assassination of President Lincoln 219 

The Maxims of Garfield 226 

■^^^^ 

What Foreign-Born Citizens say of the Convention 108 

Who is General Garfield 113 

Who Have been Assassinated Amoug Public Men During 

the Last 30 Years 216 



— 5- 



S'Cck!KH^ica^>kyH'. 



i==r^ 



HOME LIFE 17 

WAR RECORD 53 

SPEECHES ..-•.... 69 

GARFIELD'S J^OMmATION" 91 

MISCELLANEOUS - - - - 113 

ASSASSINATION, DEATH AND BURIAL * - - - 166 




"The man "svlio ^\;ultL' to serve his country mnst put 
himself in the line ot its leading thought, and that is 
the restoration ot" husiiiess, trade, commerce, industry, 
sound political economy, hard money, and the lionest 
payment of all obligations, and the man who can add any- 
thing in the direction of accomplishing any of these 
])ur])0ses is a public benefactor." — {Garfield in Coiujre^s^ 
Dec. 10, 1818.) 



xvi. 



STORIES AND SKETCHES 



-OF- 



Greneral Grarfieici, 



HOME LIFE. 



Boyhood of Gen. Garfield— The Farmer Boy— On the Tow-path— A Tough 
Time— Good Health and Indomitable Energy Triumphant. 

General James Abram Garfield, tlie farmer boy, canal 
boatman, carpenter, school teacher, college professor, 
preacher, soldier, congressman, the popular candidate of 
the Republican j^arty for Presidential honors, was born in 
the township of Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, fifteen 
miles from Cleveland, on the 19th of ^November, 1831. 
His father, Abraham Garfield, was born in Otsego County, 
New York, and was of a family that had resided in 
Massachusetts for several generations. His mother, Eliza 
Ballou, niece of the Eev. Hosea Ballon, the noted 
Universalist clergyman, was born in Cheshire County, New 
Hampshire. The General is, therefore, of New England 
stock. 

James Abram was the youngest of four children. The 
father died in 1833, leaving the family dependent upon a 

17 ' 2 



18 .STORIES AND SKETCHES OF OARFIELD. 

Biimll tiirm and the exertions of tlie iiinther. There was 
nothing about the elder Garfield to di.stinguish liini from 
the other j)lodding fanners of the rather sterile township 
of Orange. Is'o one could discern any qualities in liim, 
which, tmnsniitted to the next generation, might help t<> 
make a st^itesinaii. unless it was industry; hut his wife, who 
is still living at an advanced age, was always fond of reading 
wlun she could get leisure from her hard household duties, 
and w!is a thoroughly capable woman, of strong will, stern 
j)rincij)les, and more than average force of character. 
^ Of tlie children, no one besides James has made the 
slightest mark in the world. The older brother is a farmer 
in Michigan, and the two sisters are farmers' wives. 

The General had a tough time of it when a boy. lie 
toil(>d hard on the fann early and late in summer, and 
worked at the carpenter's bench in winter. The best of it 
was he liked work. There was not a lazy hair on his head- 
He had an absorbing ambition to get an education, and 
the oidy road o])ened to this end seemed that of manual 
labor. Ready money was hard to get in those days. 

The Ohio Canal ran not far from where he lived, and, 
finding that the boatmen got their pay in cash, and earned 
l>ctter wjiges than he could at farming or carpentry, lie 
hired out as a driver on the tow-path, and .soon got up to 
the dignity of holding the helm of a boat. Then he 
determined to ship as a sailor on the lakes, but an attack 
of fever aiul ague interfered with his ])lans. 

He was ill three nutnths, and when he recovered he 
<h.'cid(M| to go to a school called (n-auga seminary, in an 
jwljoining county, llis motlier had saved a small sum of 
inoiu'v, which she gave him, together with a few cooking 
utensils and a sack of j)rovisions. He hired a small room 
and cooked his own food to make his expenses as light as 



HOME LIFE. Vi 

possible. lie paid liis own way after that, never C4iHiui:j on 
his mother for any more assistance. 

By M'orkiiiii; at the carpenter's bench inoi-nlngs and 
evenings and vacation tinu^s, and tt-acliini;- country scliools 
during the winter lie niaiiaged to attend the seminary 
durini!^ the spring* and fall teruis, and to save a little money 
toward ffoinir to coUei^e. lie had excellent heath, a robust 
frame, and a capital memory, and the attempt to combine 
mental and physical work, which has broken down many 
farmer boys ambitions to get an education, did not hurt 
him. 



Gen. Garfield as a Wood-Chopper— He Contracts to Put Up Twenty-five Cords 
—His Visit to Cleveland Harbor, and Laughable 
Interview with the " The Captain." 

The friends and early companions of the (General relate 
wonderful stories of his precocity, telling how he could 
read at 3 years, and possessed remarkable caj)ac,itvfor com- 
mitting to memory what he had read, so that at the age 
when boys usually learn their letters he was somewhat ad- 
vanced in literature. During all the years of boyhood he 
simply vcorked and attended school, and grew strong and 
hearty, until, at the age ot sixteen, he was fully capable of 
doing a strong man's work on the farm. In the spring of 
this year he went to the Tow^nship of Newburg, now in the 
limits of Cleveland, to chop cordwood. 

He took a job of putting up twenty-five cords, and man- 
fully did he set himself in his solitude to his task. To the 
north of him, as he worked, was the lake in slaty blue. 
There, in miniature, was the ocean of which he had so long 
dreamed. Everything had to be won by little. The ocean 
was a great way off. He could not early reach it. He 
would begin his life of a sailor on the lake, and then seek a 



20 tiT(>niE.S AM) i^KETCIIE^ OF GARFIELD. 

widiT raii^^e upon the "ocean blue." The work of wood- 
chopping wius vigon)Usly prosecuted, and time flew with 
grent nipidity. 

lie felt that the pay lor wood-chopping was hardly suffi- 
cient for a stiirt, and so he hired out to a Mr. Treat, during 
the liaying and harvesting season, but he still dreamed on. 
When this job w;is finished he went home to his mother 
and announced liis intentions. She knew well that it was 
useless to oppose him, now that he had really set his heart 
upon it, and so, in the midst of prayer and God-blessings> 
he departed. 

lie visited the harbor in Cleveland. Here he found a 
single vessel about to depart for a trip up the lakes. In all 
his dreams he had never seen a Captain except as a sort of 
mixture of angel and dashing military ofhcer in blue coat 
and brass buttons. He went on board this vessel and in- 
quired for tlie Captain. lie was told, with a smile, by one 
of the men, that the Captain would come up from the hold 
in a few minutes. He had not long to wait. Presently a 
drunken wretch, brutal in every feature, came up, swearing 
at every step. 

" There is the Captain," said one of the men. 

The country lad stepped forward and modestly asked if a 
hand \v;is wanted. 

Turning upon the youth, the brute poured a volley of, 
j)ent-ujj curses and oaths, and made no other answer. 

The poor awkward boy was for a moment amazed, and 
then, turning away, walked about to recover himself He 
was by no means cured of his longing for the sea; he had 
too strong a will for that, and this had taken too strong a 
hold upon him. lievolving the matter in liis miad, he 
came to the conclusion that he had failed because he lacked 
some initiatory jirocess. As the lake was to the ocean, so 
sliuuld the e^mal be to the lake; he would apply at the canal 
and 'j-aiii .'•iimc trainiiiLf there. 



HOME LIFE. 21 

Young Garfield Tries the Canal— Thirteen Duckings on the First Trip, and one 
Fight— The First Victory. 

Notwithstanding his poor success with "the Captain," 
young Garfield determined to persevere, and tlie very first 
canal-boat he visited wanted a driver, and he got the place. 
The General avers that, by actual count, he fell into the 
canal thirteen times on the first trip. Knowing nothing 
of the art of .swimming, he came very near drowning. He 
worked faithfully and well, however, and at the end of his 
first round trip he was promoted from driver to bowsman. 

On his first trip to Beaver, in this new ca])acity, he had 
his first fight. He was standing on the deck, with the 
setting pole against his shoulder. Some feet away stood 
Dave, a great, good-natured boatman, and a firm friend 
of the young General. The boat gave a lurch, the pole 
slipped from the youth's shoulder, and flew in the direction 
of Dave. 

"Look out, Dave!" called Garfield; but the pole was 
there first, and struck Dave a severe blow in the ribs. 

Garfield expressed his sorrow, but it was of no use. 
Dave turned upon the luckless boy %vitli curses, and 
threatened to thrash him. Garfield knew he was innocent 
even of carelessness. 

The threat of a flogging i\\m\ a heavy man of 35 roused 
the hot Garfield blood. Dave rushed upon him with his 
head down, like an enraged bull. As he came on, Garfield 
sprang one side and dealt him a powerful blow just back 
of and under the left ear. Da^•e went to the bottom of the 
boat with his head between two beams, and his now heated 
foe went after him, seized him by the throat, and lifted the 
same clenched hand for another blow. 

"Pound the blamed fool to death, Jim," called the 
appreciative Captain. "Tfhehaint no more sense to get 
mad at accidents he orto die; " and, as the youth hesitated, 
"Wliv don't von strike? Blnme mo, if I'll interfere." 



22 



sT'iiilh's AXI> sKKTrilKS OF GARFIELD. 



He coiiKl not; tin- man wa.- down, helpless in his power. 
Dave expressed vcgvvX at his rage. (iartield gave liini his 
hand, and they were hetter friends than ever. 

The victorv giive tlie young man much prestige among 
the canal men. The idea that a hoy c<»uld thrash Dave 
was something that the roughs could not understand. 



Off the Tow-Path. Why Young Garfield Abandoned the Canal.— A Provi- 
dential Escape that Set Him to Thinking and 
Sent Him Home. 

The General savs that two causes were instrumental in 
causiuij him tinally to abandon the canal. One was his 
mother, and the other was the ague cake in his side. 

He had worked but a short time when he began to feel 
the ague in his system, and iinally it assumed a very seri- 
ous form. 

His many falls into the water, and the thorough wetting 
which followed increased his disease, and tinally one especi- 
ally heavy fall led him to reason quite fully over the mat- 
ter. It was night, and in the darkness he grasped for 
something to draw himself out of the water. As luck 
would havr it he chanced to reach thedragrope of the boat. 
Hand over hand he grasped the ro])e, and finally he drew 
himself up. 

He thought of his mother, and how lie had left her with 
the intention <»f going upon the lake, and how she A'\\\ 
Ix'lieved he was there. 

The next day's warm sun drit'd iiis clothes, but he 
was sicker than ever with the chills, and he detcrmine<l 
n|»on reaching ('ievciaiid to go and visit his nuither and lay 
otf long enough to get well. 

It wai< after dark when he approached the home of the 
widow an<l <jrphans. Coming tjuietly near he heanl her 



HOME LIFE. 23 

voice in prayer witliin. He bowed and listened as the fer- 
vent prayer went on. He heard lier pray for him. 

When the voice ceased he softly raised the lat(;h and 
entered. Her prayer was answered. Not till that solemn 
time did he know that his going away had crushed her. 



A Trying Ordeal— In the Hands of the Doctors— Melting Down an " Agne 

Cake " with Calomel!— How the Crucible (Young Garfield) Endmed 

It— He is Saved by a Kind Mother. 

After the terrible ducking and narrow escape that closed 
the labors of young Gai-field on the canal, he was at once 
prostrated with the " ague cake," as the hardness of the left 
side is popularly called. One of the old school M.D.'s 
salivated him, and for several awful months he lay on the 
bed with a board so adjusted as to conduct the flow 
of saliva from his mouth while the cake was dissolving 
under the influence of e^ilomel, as the doctor said! 

Nothing but the indissoluble-constitution given him by 
his father carried him through. However it fared with 
tliat obdurate cake, his jmssion for the sea survived, and he 
intended to return to the canal. The wise, sagacious love 
of the mother won. She took counsel of other helps. 
During the dreary months with tender watchfulness she 
cared for him. 'She trusted in his noble nature; she 
trusted in good faith that, although he constantly talked 
of carrying out his old plans, he would abandon them. 

Not tor years did he know the agony these words cost 
her. She merely said, in her sweet, quiet way: 

' James, you're sick. If you return to the canal, I fear 
you will be taken down again. I have been thinking it 
over. It seems to me you had better go to school this 
spring, and then, with a term in the tall, you may be able 
to teach in the winter. It you can teach winters and want 



24 STOJUEa AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD 

tx) 1,^0 on the t-iiuil or liikc summers, you will have 
employineiit tlio yoar round." 

Wise woman that she was, in liis broken condition it did 
not seem a had plai!. AVhile he revolved it, she went on: 

*' Y«>ur money is now all gone, hut your brother Thomas 
".nd 1 will he al)le to raise $17 for you to start to school on, 
an 1 you can perhaps get along, after that is gone, upon 
your own resources." 

IIo took the advice and the money, — the only fund ever 
contributed by others to him either in fitting or passing 
through college. — and went to The Geauga, a seminary at 
Chester. 

In speaking of this longing for the sea, the General said, 
half re<;retfullv: 

" But even now, at times, the old feeling, (the longing 
for the sea) comes back," and, walking across the room, he 
turned, with a flashing eye: "I tell you I would rather 
now command a fleet in a great naval battle than to do 
anything else on this earth. The sight of a ship often fills 
me with a strong fascination, and when upon the water, 
and my fellow-landsmen are in the agonies of sea-sickness, 
I am as tranquil as when walking the land in the serenest 
weather." 

And so the mother conquered. When a thirst for 
knowledge M'as once engendered in the ''youth, the mother 
Bto(»d in no danger of losing him. l>ut during all those 
years of education, there were obstacles of great magnitude 
to be overcome, poverty tt> be stniggled against, and 
victoriea to be won. 



HOME LIFE. 25 

Garfield's School Days-He Attends a High School Takes His Frying-pan 
Along-The Old Old Story of What Grit Will Do. 

Up to the time of young Garfield's canal experience he 
seemed to have cherished, little ambition for anything 
beyond the prospects ottered by the laborious life he had 
entered. But it happened that one of the winter schools 
was taught by a promising young man named Samuel 
Bates. He had attended a high school in an adjacent 
township, known as the " Geauga Seminary," and with the 
proselyting spirit common to young men in the back- 
woods, who were beginning to taste the pleasures of edu- 
cation, he was very anxious to take back several new 
students with him. 

Garfield listened to Mr. Bates, and was tempted. He 
had iiitended to become a sailor on the lakes, but he was 
yet too ill to carry out this plan, and so he finally resolved 
to attend the high school one term, and postpone sailing 
till the next fall. 

That resolution made a scholar, a Major General, a 
Senator-elect, and a Presidential candidate out of him, 
instead of a sailor before the m ast on a Lake Erie schooner. 
The boy never dreamed of what the man would be. 

Early in March, 1849, young Garfield reached Chester 
(the site of the Geauga Seminary) in company with his 
cousin and another young man from his village. They car- 
ried with them frying-pans and dishes as well as their few 
school books. They rented a room in an old, unpainted 
frame house near the academy, and went to work. Garfield 
bought the second Algebra he had ever seen, and began to 
study it. English Grammar, Natural Philosophy, and 
Arithmetic were the list of his studies. 

His mother had scraped together a little sum of money 
to aid him at the start, which she gave him with 
her blessing when he left his humble home. After that he 



26 STt/JilES A2fD SKETCH EH OF iiARFIELD. 

never had a dollai- in hi.- lile that he (li<l iioteai-u. As soon 
us lie lK.'iran to \vi'\ at home in liis chisses he sought anion^ 
the carpenters of the vilhige lor employment at his trade. 

He Worked niornintjs, evenings, and Saturdays, and thuB 
earned enou:i;h to pay his way. "When the summer vaca- 
tion came he had a lon<^er interval for work; and so when 
the fall term opened he had enou<^h money laid up to pay 
his tuition and ^ive him a start a^^ain. 

Jiy the end of the fall term Gartield liad made such 
progress that a lad of 18 thought he was able to teach a 
district school. Then the future seemed easy to him. The 
fruits of the winter's teaching were enough, with his 
ecimoniical nianagemetit to pay the expenses of the spring 
and fall terms at the academy. Whatever he could make 
at liis morning and evening work at liis carpenter's trade 
would go to swell another fund, the need of which he had 
l)egun to feel 

For the backwoods lad, village carpenter, tow-path canal 
hand, would-be sailor, had now resolved to enter college. 
" It is a great point gained," he said years afterwards, 
*' when, in our hurrying times, a young man makes up his 
mind to devote several years Xo the accomplishment of 
deiinite woik.*' It was so now in liis own case. With a 
definite jturpose before him he began to save all his 
earnings, and to shape all his exertions to the one end. 

Through the summer vacation of 1850 he worked at his 
trade, helj)ing to build houses within a stt»ne's throw of 
the acadt'iny. During the next seshion of the academy 
he was able to abandon boarding liimself, having found a 
hoarding house where lu' fouiul the. necessaries of life for 
$1 per week. 

The next winter he taught again, and m the spring 
n*moved to Hiram to attend thi' " Institute'' over which 
lie was aft(!rwurd to j)reside. iSo he continued teaching a 



lAhl^ LIFE. 27 

term each winter, attending school through spring and fall, 
and keeping up with his classes by private study during 
the time he was absent. Before he had left Hiram 
Institute he was the finest Latin and Greek scholar that the 
school had ever seen — and at this day he reads and writes 
the language fluently. 

At last, by the summer of 1854, the carpenter and tow- 
path boy had gone as far as the high school and academies 
of his native region could carry him. lie was now nearly 
23 years old. The struggling, hai'd-working boy had de- 
veloped into a self-reliant man. 

He was the neighborhood wonder lor scholarsliip, and a 
general favorite for the hearty, genial ways that had never 
deserted him. He had been brought up in " the Church 
of the Disciples," as it loved to call itself, of which 
Alexander Campbell was the great light. At an early age 
he luul followed the example of his parents in connecting 
himself with this church. His life corresponded with his 
profession. Everybody believed in and trusted him. 

He had saved from his school-teaching and carpenter 
work about half enough money to carry him through the 
two years in which he thought he could finish the ordinary 
college course. 



Garfieldat College— He Graduates with Hign Honors— His Personal Appear- 
ance at this Period that of a " Newly-Imported Dutchman. " 

When he was 23 years of age young Garfield concluded 
he had got about all there was to be had in the obscure 
cross-roads academy. He calculated that he had saved 
about half enough money to get through college, provided 
he could begin, as he hoped, with the Junior year. He 
was growing old, and he determined that he must go to 
ttollege that fall. 



28 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

TIow to procure the rest of the needed money was a 
mystery; but at last his good character, and the good will 
this brought him, solved the question. 

He was in vigorous lusty health, and a life insurance 
policy was easily obtained. This he assigned to a gentle- 
juan who thereupon loaned him what money was needed, 
knowing that if he lived he would pay it, and if he died 
the policy would secure it. 

recuniary ditHculties thus disposed of, he was ready to 
start. But wliei-e? He had originally intended to attead 
Betlianv College, the institution sustained by the church of 
which he was a member, and presided over by Alexander 
Campbell, the man above all others whom he had been 
taught to admire and revere. But as study and experience 
liad enlarged his vision, he had come to see that there were 
"better institutions outside the limits of his peculiar sect. 

So in the fall of 1854 the pupil ot Geauga Seminary and 
the Hi ram Institute applied for admission at the venerable 
doors of "Williams College. He knew no graduate of the 
college and no student attending it; and of the President 
he only knew that he had published a volume of lectures 
which he liked, and that he had written a kindly word to 
him when he spoke of coming. 

The Western carpenter and village school-teacher re- 
ceived many a shock in the new sphere he had now entered. 
( )n every hand he was made to feel the social superiority of 
his fellow-students. Their Avays were free from the awk- 
ward hiil)its of the nntrained laboring youth. Their speech 
was Iree fi'om tlir uncouth ])lirases of the provincial circles 
in which he moved. Their toilets made the handiwork of 
his village tailor sadly shabby. Their free-handed -expen- 
<litui-e8 contrasted strikingly with his enforced parsimony. 
To some tough-fibred hearts these would have been only 
petty annoyances. To the warm, social, generous mind of 



HOME LIFE. 29 

young Garfield they seem, from more than one indication of 
his college life that we can gather, to liave been a source of 
positive anguish. 

But he bore bravely up, maintained the advance standing 
in the junior class to which he had been admitted on his 
arrival, and at the end of his two years' course (in 1856) 
bore off the metaphysical honor of his class — reckoned at 
Williams among the highest within the gift of the institu- 
tion to her graduating members. 

But now, on his return to his home, the young man who 
had gone so far East as to old Williams, and had come back 
decorated with her honors, was thought good for anything. 

A daguerreotype of him taken about this time represents 
a rather awkward youth, with a shock of light hair stand 
ing straight up from a big forehead, and a frank, thought 
ful face, of a very marked German type. There is not, 
however, a drop of German blood in the Garfield family, 
but this picture would be taken for some Fritz or Carl just 
over from the Fatherland. 



Proffessor Garfield in the Hiram Eclectic Institute— He Becomes President 
of the Institution.— How He Became a Preacher. 

Before he went to college Garfield had connected him- 
self with the Disciples, a sect having a numerous member 
ship in Eastern and Southern Ohio, Weet Virginia, and 
Kentucky, where its founder, Alexander Campbell, had 
traveled and preached. 

The principal peculiarities of the denomination are their 
refusal to formulate their beliefs into a creed, the indepen- 
dence of each congregation, the hospitality and fraternal 
feeling of the members, and the lack of a regular ministry. 

When Garfield returned to Ghio it was natural that he 
should soon gravitate to the struggling little school of the 



30 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF UARFIELD. 

young sect at Iliram, Portage county, near his lx)yhood*8 
home. 

Here lio was struin-htway made tutor of Latin and Greek 
in the Iliram Kclt'ctic Institute, in wliicli only two years 
before ho had i)con a pupil, and so he began to work for 
money to pay his debts. So high a position did he take, 
and so popular did lie become, that the next year he was 
made President ot tlie institute, a jx^sition which he con- 
tinued to hold until his entrance into political life, but a 
little before the outbreak of the war. 

Two years of teaching (during which time he married) 
left him even with the world. Through the school year of 
1858-9 he even began to save a little money. At the same 
time he commenced the study of law. 

Iliram is a lonesome country village, throe miles from a 
railroad, built upon a high hill, overlooking twenty miles 
of cheese-making country to the southward. It contains 
fifty or sixty houses clustered around the green, in the cen- 
ter of which stands the homely red-brick collegti structure. 
Plain living and high thirdcing was the order of things at 
Iliram College in those days. The teachers were poor, the 
pu])ils were poor, and the institution was poor, but there 
was a great deal of hard, faithful study done, and many 
ambitious jdans formed. 

The young President taught, lectured, and preached, and 
all the time studied as diligently as any aeolyte in the tem- 
})Je of knowledge. He fre(|Hently spoke on Sundays in the 
churches of the towns in the vicinity to create an interest 
in«the college. 

Among the l)isci])les any one Ciin ]ireach who Inxsamind 
to, no ordination being required, i-'rom these Sunday dis- 
courses came tlM3 story that Garfield at one time was a 
minister. He never considere<l himself as such, and never 
liad any intention of finding a career in the ]>ulpit. His 



HOME LIFE. :il 

ambition, if lie Iiad iiiiy outride of the school, l;iy ii\ the 
directioji of law and ])oIitic's. 



Oen. Garfield's Marriage— A Happy Home— What the General says of his Wife. 

During his ])rofessorshij) at Ilinini, Uartield married 
Miss Jjucivtia Kudoiph, daughter of a fanner in the 
iieigliborliood, whose acquaintance he had made while at 
the academy, where she was also a })n])il. 

She was a quiet, thoughtful girl, of singularly sweet and 
refined disj)osition, fond of study and reading, possessing a 
warm heart and a mind with the capacity of steady growth. 

The nuirriage was a love affair on both sides, and has 
been a thoroughly hajqiy one. Much ot Gen, Garfield's 
subsequent success in life may be attributed to the never- 
failing sympathy and intellectual companionship of his 
wife and the stimulus of a loving home circle. The young 
couple bought a neat little cottage fronting on the college 
campus, and began their wedded life poor and in debt, but 
with brave hearts. 

Speaking ot his wife recently, Mr. Gai-field said: 

I have been wonderfully blessed in the discretion of my wife. 
She is one of the coolest and best-balanced women I ever saw. 
She is unstampedable. Tliere has not been one solitary instance 
of my public career where I suffered in the smallest degree lor 
any remark she ever made. It would have been perfectly natural 
for a woman often to say something that could be misinterpreted ; 
but without any design, and with the intelligence and coolness 
of her character, she lias never made the slightest mistake that I 
ever heard of. With the competition that lias been against me, 
many times such discretion has been a real blessing. 

She has borne him a large family of children, two 
of whom — the eklest boys— are now ])reparing for college. 
Their home since their marriage has been in Hiram until 
three or four years ago. when they removed to ^Mentor, 
Lake County, where their residence now is. 



.s-i STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Inenasing Fame of the College President— His Election to the State Senate 
and What He Did. 

Tlie College President began to di-aw attention tiirongh 
wider circles than those which he had been a center as a 
tCiiciier, and his oratorical powers had brought him promi- 
nently before the public. As President of the institute, it 
was natural that he should secure a prominent position 
among educated men, and his reputation grew very rapidly 
until, in 1859, the people of his county thought him a 
proper man to represent them in the State Senate. He was 
elected by a large majority, and took an influential part in 
legislation and debate. 

It is generally supposed that General Garfield was once 
a clergyman. This is not strictly true; he frequently 
appeared in the pulpit of the Disciples Church, in accord- 
ance with the liberal usages of that denomination, but 
never entertained any idea of becoming a minister, nor did 
he ever take holy orders. Since his entrance into politics 
as a member of the Legislature he has not performed any 
ministerial duties, but has turned his attention more to the 
practice of law. 

"When the war broke out General Garfield was a leading 
member of the Ohio State Senate, and was the foremost of 
a small band of Republicans who thought it impolitic to 
adopt the constitutional amendments which had been sent 
by Congress to the States forbidding forever legislation on 
the subject of slavery. He took the lead in revising an 
old statute about treason, and when what was known as the 
" million war bill " came up, he was the most conspicuous 
of its advocates. 

A, 




HOME LIFE. as 

Anecdote of Garfield's Early Life— His Greatness Anticipated by a Woman in 
Connection with a Laughable Incident. 

A reminiscence of Gen. Giirtiekl's earlier manhood is 
found in the recital given by one Capt. Stiles, the pres- 
ent Sheriff of Ashtabnla county, Ohio. In 1850, Capt. 
Sliles relates that Garfield taught the district school of 
Stiles' district, and " boarded around." Like many other 
school-masters of the pioneer days, Garfield's wardrobe was 
scanty, consisting of but one suit of jean. 

One day the school-master was so unfortunate as to rend 
his pantaloons across the knee in an unseemly degree. He 
pinned up the rend as best he could, and went to the home- 
stead of the Stiles' where he was then boarding. Good 
Mrs. Stiles cheerfully said to the unfortunate pedagogue:. 

"Oh, w^ell, James, never mind; you go to bed early and 
I will put a nice patch under that tear, and darn it all up 
so nice that it will last all winter, and when you get to be 
United States Seiiator nobody will ask you what kind of 
clothes you wore when you were keeping school." 

Last winter when Gen. Garfield was elected Senator from 
the State of Ohio Mrs. Stiles, who is still a hale old lady, 
sent her congratulations to him and reminded him of the 
torn pantaloons ; and for her kindly congratulations she re- 
ceived a most touching reply from the newly-elected 
Senator, assuring her that the incident was fresh in his 
memory. 



&n Interesting Beminiscence— Garfield and Arthur Both School Teachers ia 
the Same Boom at North Fownal, Vt. 

North Pownal, Bennington, Co., Vt., formerly known 
as Whipple's Corners, is situated in the southwestern 
corner of the State, and by the usually travelled road 
one passes in an hour's ride from New York through the 

3 



34 STOlilEci AND SKETCHES OF OARFIELD. 

corner of Vermont by way of North Pownal into the State 
of Massachusotts. 

In 1851 Chester A. Artliur, fresh from Union College, 
camG to North Pownal, and for one summer taught the 
\!llai'e school. About two years later James A, Gariield. 
then a young student at Williams College, several miles 
distant, in order to obtain the necessary means to defray 
his expenses while pursuing his studies, came also to North 
Pownal and established a writing-school in the room for- 
merly occupied by Mr. Arthur, and taught classes in pen- 
manship during the long winter evenings. 

Thus, from a common starting-point in early life, after 
the lapse of more than a (piarter ot n century, after years 
of manly toil, these distinguished mv\\ are brought into r 
close relationship before the nation ami before the civilized 
world. 



' A Pen Picture of Garfield. 

In person (ien. Garfield is six feet high, broad-shouldered 
and strongly built. He has an unusually large head, that 
seems to be three-fourths forehead, light-brown hair and 
beard, large, light-blue eyes, a prominent nose, and full 
cheeks, lie dresses plainly, is fond of broad-brimmed 
slouch hats and stout boots, eats heartily, cares nothing for 
luxurious living, is thoroughly tem]^crate in all respects 
save in that of brain-work, and devoted to his wife and 
children and very fond of his country home. Among men 
he is genial, ap])roachable, companionable, and a remarkably 
entertaining talker. 



HOME LIFE. :-.5 

A Pen Picture of Gen. Garfield's Wife— A Model Woman. 

Mrs. Garfield is a lady of medium lieii;ht, and of slight 
but well-knit form. She lias small features, with a some- 
what prominent forehead, and her hhiek hair, crimped in 
front and done up in a modest coil, is sli-htly tinged with 
gray. A pair of ])lack eyes, and a mouth about whicli 
there plays a sweetly bewitching smile, are the most attrac- 
tive features of a thoroughly ex])ressive face. In dress she 
is quite as plain as tlie present mistress of the White 
House, whom she resembles in several respects. Her man- 
ners are graceful and winning in the extreme. Though she 
is noted for lier modest, retiring M'ays and her thorough 
domesticity more than for any other distinguishing char- 
acteristic, her educational accomplishments are many and 
varied. In ail the public life of her distinguished compan- 
ion she has been Ids constant helpmeet and adviser. She 
is a quick observer, an intelligent listener, but undemon- 
strative in the extreme. When the General was at Chick- 
amagua, and everybody at Hiram was painfully anxious to 
get the latest news from the field of l»attle, she sat quiet and 
patient in what is now Professor Hinsdale's cosy library, 
and was able to control the iimiost emotions that swayed 
her breast. How she received the news of the General's 
nomination at Chicago will probably never be fully known, 
but everybody liere is sure that she was as undemonstrative 
as when waiting for news fj-om Chickamaugua. 




80 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Preeident Hinsdale's Stories and Tribute to Gen. Garfield, the Man Who wa« 

in Hiram Colle;je Before Him— The Canal and Wood-Chopping 

Incidents— How He Idade Success Possible, and 

Why He Succeeded. 

President B. A. Hinsdale, of Hiram College, on the day 
of Gurtield's election to the United States Senate, made the 
following announcement to the students' in the chapel: 

" To-day a man will be elected to the United States 
Senate in Columbus who, when a boy, was once the bell- 
ringer in this school and afterward its President. Feeling 
tliis, we ought, in some way, to recognize this step in his 
history. I will to-morrow morning call your attention to 
Bome of the more notable and worthy features of Gen. Gar- 
field's history and character." 

The address which President Hinsdale delivered on the 
occasion is as follows: 

YoDNo Ladies and Gentlemen: I am not going to at- 
tempt, a formal address on the life and character of Gen. 
Garfield. There is now no call for such an attempt, and I 
have made no adequate preparations for such a task. My 
object is far humbler: simply to hold up to your minds 
some points in his history, and some features in his char- 
acter that young men and women may study with interest 
ajid profit. 

I shall begin by destroying histoiy, or what is commonly 
held to be history. The- popularly accepted account of 
Gen. Gai-fiekFs history and character is largely fabulous. 
AVe are not to suppose that the ages of myth and legend 
arc gone; under proper conditions such growths spring up 
now; and I know of no man in public life around whom 
they have sprung up more rankly than annind the subject 
of my remarks. 

No doubt you have seen some of the stories concerning 
him and his family that appear ever and anon in the news- 



HOME LIFE. «t 

papers; that his mother chopped cordwood ; that she fought 
wolves with lire to keep them IVoiii devouring her cliildren, 
her distinguished son being one of the group; that the cir- 
cumstances of the family were the most pinching; that 
Garfield himself could not read at the age of 21; that he 
was i^eculiarly i-eckless iu liis early life; that, when he had 
become a man, ho went down from the jnilpit to thrash a 
bully who inteiTUj)tt'(l him in his s(>rmon on the patience 
of Job. 

These stories, and others like them, arc all false and all 
harmful. They fail of accomplishing the very purpose for 
which they M'ere professedly told — the stimulation of youth. 
To make the lives of the great distorted and monstrous is 
not to make them fruitful as lessons. 

If a life be anomalous and outlandish, it is, for that 
reason, the poorer example. It is all in the wrong direc- 
tion. It makes the impression that, in human history, 
there is no cause and no effect; no antecedent and no eon- 
sequent; that everything is capricious and fitful; and sug- 
gests that the best thing to do is to abandon one's self to 
the currents of life, trusting that some beneficent gulf 
stream will seize you and bear you to some happy shore. 
No, young people, do not heed such instruction as this. 

Tlie best lives for them to study are those that are natui*al 
and symmetricfd; those in which the relation between cause 
and effect is so close and apparent that the dullest can see 
it; and that preach in the plaiiuist terms the sermon on the 
text: " "Whatever a man soweth that shall he also reap.'' 

Irregular and abnornud lives will do for '"studies," but 
healthy, normal, harmonious lives should be chosen for 
example. And Gen. Garfield's life from the first has been 
eminently healthy, normal, and well-proportioned. 

He was born in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga County, 
in 1831. His father died when the son was a year and a 



38 srolUK.S AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

halt' f>l(l. Alirain (rariield's circmnstances were those of 
his nei<^hb<>r.s. Measured by our standard they were all 
]HM)r; they lived on small farms, tor which they, had gone 
in debt, hoping to clear and pay for them by their toil, 
(iarficld dying, left his wife and four young children in the 
condition that any one of his neighbors would have done 
in like circumstances — ]>oor. Tlie family life before had 
l)ecn close and hard encjugh; now it became closer and 
liardcr. 

(irandma (iarlicld, a.- some of us familiarly call her, was 
a woman of unusual energy, faith, and courage. She said 
the children should not be separated, but kept them 
together; and that the home should be maintained, as 
when it-« lieud was living. The battle was a liard one, and 
>he won it. All honor to her, but let us not make her 
I'idiculous by inventing impossible stories. 

To external appearance, young (iurfieldV life did not 
differ matei-ially from tlie lives of the neighbors' boys. 

lie chopjxxi wood, and so did they; he mowed, and so 
did they; he carried l)utter to the stoi-e in ;i little pail, and 
^o did they. Other families that had ru>t lost their heads 
naturally shot ahead of the Garfields in })roperty; but 
such difierences counted tar less then than they do now. 
The traits of his maturer ciiaracter appeai'ed early; studi- 
ousness, truthfulni'ss, generosity of nature, and mental 
iKJwer. So f;ir was he from being reckless, that he was 
almost serious, reverent and tluuightful. So far was he 
i'rom being umible to read at 21 that he was a teacher 
in the district schools before he was 18. 

He was the farthest removed from being a pugilist, 
tho\igh he had great physical strength and courage, cool- 
ness of mind, was left-handed withal, and was both able 
and dis))osed to defend himself and all his rights, and did 
no <in due <x'c>afiion. 



HOMK LIFE. DO 

His three months' service on tlie canal has been the 
source of numerous fables and morals. The morals are as 
false as the fables, and more misleading. All I have to 
Bay about it is: James A. Garfield has not risen to tlio 
position of a United States Senator because he "ran on a 
canal." Nor is it because he chopped more wood than the 
neighbors' boys. Many a man has run longer on the canal, 
and chopped more wood, and never became a Senator. 

Gen. Garfield once rang the school bell when a student 
here. That did not make him the man he is. Convince 
rae that it did, and I will hang up a bell in every tree in 
tlie c;impus, and set you all to ringing. Thomas Corwin, 
when a boy, drove a wagon, and became the head of the 
Treasury; Thomas Ewing boiled salt, and became a 
Senator; Henry Clay rode a horse to mill from the 
"Slashes," and he became the great commoner of the 
West. But it was not the wagon, the salt, and horse that 
made these men great. 

These are interesting facts in the lives of these illus- 
triousmen; they show that, in our country, it has been, 
and still is possible for young men of ability, energy, and 
determined purpose to rise above a lowly condition, and 
win places of usefulness and honor. Poverty may be a 
good school; straightened circumstances may develop 
power and character; but the principal conditions of 
Buccess are in the man, and not in his surroundings. 

Garfield is the man he is because nature gave him a 
noble endowment of fsunilties that he has nobly handled. 
We must look witliin, and not without, for the secret of 
destiny. The thing to look at in a man's life are his 
aspirations, his energy, his courage, his strength of will, 
and not the wood he may have chopped, or the salt he may 
bave boiled. How a man works, and not what he does, is 
the test of worth. 



40 STORTES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

His success (lid not lie in his technical scholarship, or hia 
ability as a drill-inaster. Teachers are plenty who much 
Rurpass him in these particulars. He had great ability to 
grasp a subject; t()(»rgani/,e a body of intellectual materials; 
t(i auuiss tacts and work out strikirig generalizations; and, 
therefore, he excelled in rhetorical exposition. An old 
pupil who has often heard him on the stump, once told me, 
"the General succeeds best when talking to the people just 
as he did to his class." lie inijiarted to his pupils large- 
ness of view, enthusiasm, and called out of them unbounded 
devotion to himself. 

This devotion was not owing to any ])lan or trick, but to 
the qualities of the nu\n. Mr. H. M. James of the Cleve- 
land schools, an old Iliram scholar, speaking of the old 
Hiram days bef )re (tarfield went to college, once wrot« me: 
"There beiran to irrow ui) in me an admiration and love for 



to' 



Garfield that has never abated, and the like of which I have 
never known. A bow of recognition, or a simple word 
from him, was to me an inspiration." 

Probably all were not equally susceptible, but all the boya 
who were long under his charge (save, perha])s, a few 
" sticks ") would speak in the same strain. He had great 
power to energize young men. Gen. Garfield has carried 
the same qualities into public life. He has comnumded 
success. His ability, knowledge, mastery of questions, 
generosity of nature, devotion to the public good, and 
honesty of purpose, have done the work. He has ne\'er had 
a ]iolitical "machine." He has never forgotten the daj 
of small things. He has never made j^crsonid enemies. 

It is difficult to see how a ]>olitieal triumph co\dd ho 
more coni])lete or more gratifying than his el'-ctlon to the- 
Senate. No "bargains" no "slate," no "gnrcerj-" at 
Columbus, lie did not even go to the ("aj^ital City. 8>ich 
things are inspiring to tho^c w1k» think pivlitics in a l)road 



HOME LIFE. 41 

way. lie is i\ man of positive convictions, freely uttered. 
Politically he may be called a " inaii-ot-war; "' and yet few 
men, or none, begrudge him his triuni})h. J)eni(){!rats vied 
with Republicans the other day in Washington in snowing 
him under with congratulations; some of them were as 
anxious for his election as any Republican could be. 

It is is said he will go to the Senate without an enemy 
on either side ot the chamber. These things are honorable 
to all parties. They show that manhood is more than 
party. The Senator is honored, Ohio is honored, and so 
is the school in Hiram, with which he was connected so 
many years. The whole story abounds in interest, and I 
hope I have so told it as to bring out some of its best 
points, and to give you stimulus and cheer. 

&I1 Interesting Story in Connection witli the Sick room— General Garfield as 

a Reaaer. 

The methods of stlidy which Cien. Crarfield adopted in 
early life have never been abandoned. There arc few public 
men who have any spare time for books; Gen. Garfield is 
one of the few. He always reads. 

He believes in the principle that change is rest, and, to 
relieve himself from the tedium of Congressional b-usiness, 
he resorts to literature. It is said that nearly all great 
orators have been fine talkers. 

Gen. Garfield is a remarkable conversationalist. His pri- 
vate talk, when the harness of politics has been laid aside, 
is brilliant and fascinating. He seems never to forget any- 
thing; and in quiet moments, when friends are by him, it is 
pleasant to hear him tell of the old days, and 'to dream of 

the future. 

He IS so full of pleasant anecdote 
So rich, so gay, so poignant is his wit- 
Time vanishes before him as he speaks. 
And ruddy morning through the lattice peeps 
Ere night seems well begun. 



42 UTORIEiS AND 8KETCIIJ£iS OF GARFIELD 

Sotru' years ago Gen. GarlieUl sulieivd from a temporary 
disordir, and was compelled to submit to a ])ainlul surgical 
operation. lie lay here lor six weeks in this tropical sun, 
recovering Irotn the eti'ects ot that '>peration. The town 
was dead. It \\;is vaeatioii time. Not one member of 
either Ilou.-<e was here. On <»ne of these burning days a 
friend had occasion to call upon him. Everything was 
ijuiet and peiiceful within. 

" 1 have been reading," said Gen. Garfield, from his sick- 
bed, "charming, silly old Bozzy's journey to the Hebrides, 
over again, lie is always the same kindly, lazy, genial, old 
man, forever saying good things — a sleek, soft-handed, soft- 
heai'ted giant of a fellow." 

"I have read,'' he said, turning to his visitor, "since I 
ha\e been lying here, struggling with this ])ain, eighteen 
volumes; and I have indexed and c()mmon])lact(l them all. 
Pretty fair Mork, I take it, tor si.\ weeks of midsummer in 
Washington. 

The sick-i'oom bore wituos to iliis convalescent industry. 

J'hf nai-rative ot ]j(j/.zy\s journey lay beside him, and an 
immense atlas, sujiported by an elevated stand, stood near 
the bed. opiMud at the nnip which showed the course of 
Bozzy in the journey to the Hebrides, A faithful wife 
was tracing with a pencil the ins and outs which the genial 
old philo.soj)her took on liis way to these JSIorthern islands. 
It was in this way that Garfield was turning to profit the 
leisure that the sury,-eon's knife had ":i\en him. 



Garfield at Home- His Keiidence at Mentor— His Family and His Mother. 

(tcu. Garfield is the ])os6essor of two liomes, and bis 
tamily migrates twice a year. Some ten years ago, finding 
how unsatisfactory lite was in hotels and boarding-housee, 



HOMB LTFE. 43 

he bought a lot of ground on the corner of Tliirteenth and 
I streets, in Washington, D. C, and, with money borrowed 
of a friend, built a plain, substantial three-storv house. A 
win^ was extended afterward to make room for the fast- 
growing library. The money was repaid in time, and was 
probably saved in great part from what would otherwise 
liave gone to landlords. The children grew up in pleasant 
home surroundings, and the house became a center of much 
simple and cordial hosj)itality. 

Five or six years ago the little cottage at Hiram was 
sold, and for a time the only residence the Garfields had in 
his district was a summer-house he built on Little Mount- 
ain, a bold elevation in Lake County, which commands a 
view of thirty miles of rich farming country stretched along 
the shore of Lake Erie, 

Tliree years ago he bought a farm in Mentor, in the same 
county, lying on both sides of the Lake Shore and Michi- 
gan Southern Railroad. Here his family spend all the time 
when he is free from his duties in Washino^ton. 

The farm-house is a low, old-fashioned, story-and-a-half 
building, but its limited accommodations have been sup- 
j)lemented by numerous outbuildings, one of wliich Gen. 
Garfield uses for office and library purposes. 

The farm contains about 160 acres of excellent land, in a 
iiigh state of cultivation, and the Congressman finds a recre- 
.'ition, of which he never tires, in directing the field woi-k 
iiiul making improvements in the buildings, fences, and 
orchards. Cleveland is only twenty-five miles away; tJiere 
18 a postoffice and a railway station within half a mile, and 
the pretty country town of Painesville is but five miles 
distant. One of the pleasures of summer life on the Gar- 
field farm is a drive of two miles through the woods to the 
lake shore and a bath in the breakers. 

Gen. Garfield has five children living, and has lost two, 



44 STOIUES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

who died in infancy. The two older boys. Harry and 
James, arc now at school in New Ilampsliire. Mary, or 
Molly as everybody calls her, is a liandsoine, rosy-cheeked 
girl of about 12. TJie two younger boys are named Irvrui 
and Abram. 

The Generars mother is still living, and has long been « 
member of iiis family. She is an intelligent, energetic old 
lady, with a clear head and a strong will, who keeps well 
posted in the news of the day, and is very ]:)roud of her 
son's career, though more liberal of criticism than of 
praise. 



Ofln. Garfield's First Important Speech After His Nomioation — It ia IMIt- 

ered to the Students of Hiram College on " Commencement Day "— 

An Interesting Address. 

Gen. Garfield returned home from his nomination in 
Chicago to be ])resent "Commencement Day" at little 
lliram, where he had once been professor, and afterwartk 
])rosi(lent of the institution. Here Gai-field met hijs wife 
for the first time since his nomination, and that, too, at tlie 
very house wliere their acquaintance began, within a stone's 
throw ot the college. To the students and his college 
friends there assembled he spoke most grandly. After a 
brief reference to old associations, he added the following 
evidently impromptu remarks: 

" FkLLOW CiTIZKNS, ()i.I> Nl-.KJIlHOliS, AND FuiKNDS OP 

Many Ykaus: It has always given me pleasure to come 
back here and look upon these faces. It has always given 
me new courage and new fi-iends, for it lias brought bjick a 
large share of that richness which belongs to those things 
out of wliich come the joys of life. 

"While sitting here this afternoon, watching your (hoba 



I 



HOME LIFE. 45 

and listening to the very interesting address wliicli has just 
been delivered, it has occurred to me that the least thing 
you have, that all men have enough of, is perlia])s the thing 
il)at you care for the least, and that is your leisure — the 
leisure you have to think; the leisure you have to be let 
alone; the leisure you have to throw the plummet into your 
mind, and sound the depth and dive for things below; the 
leisure you have to walk about the towers yourself, and find 
how strong they are or how weak they are, to determine 
what needs building up; how to work, and how to know all 
that shall make you the final beings you are to be. Oh, 
these hours of building! 

" If the Superior Being of the universe would look down 
upon the world to find the most interesting object, it would 
be the unfinished, unformed character of the young man or 
young woman. Those behind me have probably in the 
main settled this question. Those who have passed into 
middle manhood and middle womanhood are about what we 
ehall always be, and there is but little left of interest, as 
their characters are all developed. 

" But to your young and your yet unformed natures, no 
man knows the possibilities that lie before you in your 
hearts and intellects; and, while you are working out the 
possibilities with that splendid leisure that you need, you 
are to be most envied. 1 congratulate you on your leisure. 
I commend you to treat it as your gold, as your wealth, as 
your treasure, out of which you can draw all possible treas- 
ures that can be laid down when you have your natures 
unfolded and developed in the possibilities of the future. 

" Tliis place is too full of memories for me to trust my- 
self to speak upon, and I will not. But I draw again to- 
day, as I have tor a quarter of a century, life, evidence ot 
strength, confidence, and aiFection from the people who 
gather iu this place. I thank you for the permission to see 
you and meet you and greet you as I have done to-day." 



46 STORIES AND r.iCETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Garfield " Photog^raphed " by "Gath"— A Remarkably Interestinp Pea- 
Picture of the Great Man-His Physical, Social, Moral, 
and Intellectual Powers. 

The following exceedingly interesting description of Gen. 
Garfield was written by the celebrated "Gath" soon after 
Garlield's nomination as President: 

Tiie writer has known Gen. Garfield pretty well for 
thirteen years. lie is a large, well-fed, hale, ruddy, brown- 
bearded man, weighing about 220 pounds, with Ohio Ger- 
man colors, blue eyes, military face, erect figure and shoul- 
ders, large back and thighs, and broad chest, and evidently 
bred in the country on a farm. His large mouth is full of 
strong teeth, his nose, chin, and brows are strongly pro- 
nounced. A large brain, with room for play of thought 
and long application, rises high al)ove his clear, discerning, 
enjoying eyes. He sometimes suggests a country Samson, — 
strong beyond his knowledge, but unguarded as a school- 
boy. 

lie pays little attention to the afiectation by which some 
men manage public opinion, and has one kind of behavior 
for all callers, which is the most natural behavior at hand. 
Strangers would think him a little cold, and mentally shy. 
On ac(p;aintance he is seen to be hearty above every thing, 
loving the life around him, his family, his friends, liis State 
and country. Loving sympathetic and achieving pex)ple, 
and with a large unprofessing sense of the brotherhood of 
workers in the fields of progress, it was the feeling of sym- 
pathy and the desire to impart which took him for chief; 
while as to the pulpit, or on the verge of it, full of all that 
he saw and aerjuired, he panted to give it forth, after it had 
passed through the alembic of his mind. 

Endowed with a warm temperament, copious expression, 
large, wide-seeing faculties, and superabundant health, ho 
could study all night and teach or lectui-e all day, and it 



HOME TJFE. 47 

was a providence that his neighbors discovered he was too 
much of a man to coi.ceal in tlie pulpit, wlicro his docility 
and reverence had almost taken him. They sent liim to the 
State Legislature, where he was when the war broke out, 
and he immediately went to the field, where his courage 
and painstaking parts, and love of open air occuj)ation, and 
perfect freedom from self-assertion, made him the delight 
of Rosecrans and George 11. Thomas successively. He 
would go about any work they iisked of him, was unselfish 
and enthusiastic, and had steady, temperate habits, and his 
larffe brain and his reverence made evervthinif novel to him. 

There is an entire absence of non-balance or wdrldliness 
in his nature. He is never indifferent, never vindictive. 
A base action or ingratitude or cruelty may make him sad, 
but does not provoke retaliation, nor alter that faith in men 
or Providence which is a part of his sound stomach and 
athletic head. Garfield is simple as a child; to the ser- 
pent's wisdom he is a stranger. Having no use nor apti- 
tude with the weapons of coarser natures, he often avoids 
mere disputes, does not go to public resorts where men are 
familiar or vulgar, and the walk from his home in Wash- 
ington to the Capitol, and an occasional dinner out, com- 
prise liis life. 

The word public servant especially applies to him. He 
has been the drudge of his State constituents, the public, 
the public societies, the moral societies, and of his party 
and country since 1863. Aptitude for public debate and 
public affairs are associated with a military nature in him. 
He is on a broad scale a schoolmaster of the range of Glad- 
stone, of Agassiz, of Gallatin. With as lion-^st a heart as 
ever beat above the competitors of sordid ambition, Gen. 
Garfield has yet so little of the worldly wise in him that 
he is poor, and yet has been accused of dishonesty. 

He has no capacity for investment, nor the rapid solution 



4S ^ STORIEii AND ^SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

ot wealth, nor jtrofound respect for the penny in and out 
of ponml, and still is neither careless, improvident, nor 
dependent. The great consuming passion to ecpial richer 
people, and live finely, and extend Ids social power is as 
foreii'ii to him as schemino: or cheatin<i'. But he is not a 
Buspicious nor a high mettled man, and so lie is taken in 
sometimes, partly from his obliging, iinrefusing disposition. 
Men who were scheming imposed upon him as upon Grant, 
luid other men. The people of his district, who are quick 
to punish public venality or defection, heard him in his 
defense in 1873 and kept him in Congress and held up his 
hand, imd hence he is by their unwavering support for 
twenty-iive years candidate for President and a National 
character. 

Since John Quincy Adams no President has had Gar- 
field's scholarship, which is equally up to this age of wider 
facts. The average American, pursuing money all day 
long, is now presented to a man who had invariably put the 
business of others above his own, and worked for that 
alleged nondescript — the public — gratitude all his life. But 
he has not labored without reward. The great nomination 
came to-day to as pure and loving a man as ever wished well 
of anybody and put his shoulder to his neighbor's wheel. 

Garfield's big, boyish heart is pained to-night with the 
weight of his oi)ligation, affection, and responsibility. To- 
day, as hundreds of telegrams came from everywdiere, say 
irii; kind, stroui; thinjjs to him — such messaores as only 
Americans in their rapid, good impulses pour upon a lucky 
friend — he was with two volunteer clerks in a room open- 
ing and reading, and suddenly his two boys sent him one — 
little fellows at school — and as he read it he broke down, 
and tried to talk, but his voice choked, and he could not see 
f(jr tears. The clerks began to blubber, too, and people to 
whom they afterward told it. 



HOME LIFE. 49 

This sense of real great heart will be new to the country, 
and will grow it" lie gets tlie l*residcncy. His wife was ono 
of Ilia scholars in Ohio. Like him, she is of a New England 
family, transplanted to the "West, a pure-hearted, brave, un- 
assuming woman ; the mother of seven or eight children, 
and, as he told me only a few weeks ago, had never, by any 
remark, hrought him into the least trouble, while she was 
unstampedable by any clamor. 

He is the ablest public speaker in the country, and the 
most serious and instructive man on the stump. His in- 
stincts, liberal and right; his courtesy, noticeable in our 
politics; his aims, ingenuous; and his piety comes by na- 
ture. He leads a farmer's life, all the recess of Confirresa 
working like a field-hand, and restoring his mind by resting 
it. If elected, he will give a tone of culture and intelligence 
to the Executive office it has never jet had, while he has no 
pedantry in his composition, and no conceit wdiatever. 

Gen. Garlield may be worth $25/)00, or a little more than 
Mr. Lincoln w^as when he took the office. His old mother, 
a genial lady, lives in his family, and his kindness to heron 
every occasion bears out the commandment of " Honor thy 
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the 
land." 



A Splendid Escord— Summary of Garfield's Labors— The Eewards of Industry. 

It is astonishing how much there is in the story of Gen, 
Garfield's life to excite the sympathy, appeal to the pride, 
and call out the commendation of young men and old men 
who believe in the dignity of American citizenship. 

In 1840, an orphan boy struggling along the prosaic dead 
level of life on a farm; in 1847, working steadily under the 
hardships and drudgery of a canal-boatman's experience; in 
1840, an aspiring student, supporting himself at an acad- 

4 



50 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

cmy; in 1850, a teacher in a country school, earn! nir money 
to forward his ambition to become an educated man; in 
18r.4, a Ktiibborn student at college; in 1858, a young man 
stni.r(rlin<r a-'aliist the debts incurred in educating himself; 
in 1850, Trcfiident of an educational institute and a State 
Senator; in 1860, influential as a man and prominent as a 
politician; in 1861, the Colonel of a Union regiment, and 
the commander of a brigade, driving forward with resistleerf 
energy into Eastern Kentucky; in 1862, a Brigadier Gen- 
eral, and then a Major General; in 1863, occupying G id- 
dings' seat in Congress; re-elected in 1864, 1866, 1868, 
1870, 1872, 1874, 1876, and 1878, and for nearly all the 
time an acknowledged leader; elected United States Sen- 
ator in January, 1880, and nominated President in June. 

This is the ideal career of the ambitious or aspiring 
American boy. Here is a man -who, beginning life as a 
poor boy, has in truth fought his way to distinction. Pure 
and courageous as a boy, ambitious and self-reliant as a 
young man, tireless and brave as a soldier, aggressive but 
even-tempered as a leader in Congress, Gen. Gai-field has 
retained every friendship of his youth, held fest to every 
comrade of his soldier experience, and commanded the 
respect of all his co-laborers in Congress. 

(Garfield's life is the story of a young man who has suc- 
ceeded through his own efforts. Having passed tlirough 
all the trials common to boys and young men in this cx)nn- 
try, he has achieved the distinction which we teach, as a 
part of our American system, all our boys to strive for. 
He is from the people and of the pe(»])le, a pure, kind- 
hearted, tolerant, broad-spirited, and distinguished man. 

Such a life record is a source of pride to any man who 
thoroughly believes in the possibilities of the American 
system of education and government. It must be an ele- 
ment of strength to the Presidential candidate of any party, 



HOME LIFE. 



51 



and, jiidcred hv this ivcord, by his talent, experience, and 
spirit, Garfield should he a strong candidate for the Repub- 
lican party. 

It is a good sign when those who know a man best like 
him best. It is a good sign Avhen those who have been 
most intimately associated with a man arise promptly and 
voluntarily to testily iji his behalf. It is a good sign when 
men are attracted to another man because he is a man of 
heart and principle. 





HIRAM COLLEGE. 



WAR RECORD. 



Garfield in War— How He Voluntered to put down the Rebellion, and was 
Promoted— Interesting Incidents on the Field of Battle. 

Troops were being raised in Ohio early in 1861, and 
Gen. Garfield at once notified Governor Dennison of his 
desire to enter the service. Garfield was sent to New 
York by Governor Dennison to secure arms for the 
equipment of the Ohio troops, and upon his return was 
offered a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in a proposed regiment, 
which was never organized. 

In August, 1861, however, after McClellan's West 
Virginia campaign, Gen. Gai-field w^as appointed Lieutenant 
Colonel of the Forty-Second Ohio Regiment, for which had 
been recruited many of his old pupils at the Hiram 
Institute. Gen. Garfield went diligently at work studying 
tactics, and after five weeks of camp life was promoted to 
the Colonelcy of his regiment, and started for the field. 

The regiment went first to Kentucky, where it reported 
to Geri. Buell, and Garfield was at once assigned the 
command of the Seventeenth Brigade, and ordered to drive 
the rebel forces, under Humphrey Marshall, out of Eastern 
Kentucky. Up to that date no active operations had been 
attempted west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and Gen. 
Garfield found himself in command of four regiments of 
infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the 



64 sYfJimCS A YD SKETCHES OF GARFIELD, 

iiuportuiit work ot driviiijj^ out of his native State an officer 
reported to he the ahlest that Kentucky had given to the 
relHillion. 

(ion. (iartii-ld had never seen a gun Hred in action, and 
liatl nn knowledge «)t' military service except what liad been 
gained in a tew months' experience. Garfield moved 
i-apidly up the valley, with a force numbering only 2,200, 
to meet an experienced officer with 5,000 well-equipped 
men; but Mai^hall retreated before him. and after a sliirht 
t'kirmi^h, (iarlield found himself in jjossession of the 
enemy's camp and baggage. He pushed the j)ursuit, and 
was reintorced bv about 1,000 men. The fiffht that 
followed was severe at times, but on the whole desultory, 
and continued three days, until the troo]>s had become 
practically disabled, because of a heavy rainstorm that 
flooded the mountain gorges, and made so strong a current 
in the rivers that Garfield's sup])lies were unable to reach 
him. 

The troops were almost out of rations, and the mountain- 
ous country was incapable of supporting them. Garfield 
went by land U) the base of his supplies, and ordered a 
steamer to take on a cargo and move up to the relief ot his 
troop.<5. The Captain declared it was impossible; finally, 
Garfield ordered the Captain and his crew on board, 
stationed sentinels in the pilot-house, and, having gained a 
load, started up stream. The water in the usually shallow 
river was sixty feet dee]i, and the tree tops along the banks 
were submerged. 

The little vessel trembled from steni to stern at every 
motion of the engines; the waters whirled her about iis 
if sh(! wei-e a skiff, and the utmost s]>eed that .steam could 
give her was three miles an hour. When night fell, the 
Captain of the boat begged ])ermission to tie uj). To 
attempt ascending the flood in the dark he declared was 



WAR RECORD. 6S 

madness. But Col. Garfield kept liis place at the wheel. 
Finally, in one of the sudden Lends of the river, they drove, 
with a full head of steam, into the bank. Every effort to 
\iiick her off Mas in vain. Mattocks were procured, and 
excavations were made around the imbedded bow. Still 
Blie stuck. Garfield at last ordered a boat to be lowered to 
take a line across to the opposite bank. The crew protested 
against venturing out in the flood. The Colonel leaped 
into the boat and steered it over. A windlass of rails was 
hastily made, and with a long line the vessel was warped 
off, and once more was afloat. 

It was Saturday when they left Sandy Creek. All 
through that day and night, Sunday and Sunday night, the 
boat pushed her way against the current, Garfield leaving 
the wheel but eight hours of the whole time. At nine 
o'clock Monday they reached camp, and Garfield could 
Bcaxcely escape being borne to headquarters on the 
Bboulders of the men. 

During the months of January, Februai-y and March 
there were numerous encounters with mountain guerrillas, 
tut the Union arms finally prevailed, and the hands of 
marauders w-ere driven from the State. 

Just on the border, however, at the rough pass across the 
mountains known as Pound Gap, Humphrey Marshall still 
held a post of observation, with a force of about 5 00 men. 
On the 14th of March, Garfield started with 500 infantry 
and a couple of 'hundred cavalry against this detachment. 
The distance was forty miles. The roads were at their 
worst, but by evening of the next day he had reached the 
mountain two miles north of the gap. 

Kext morning the cavalry were deployed up the gap 
road, while the infantry were led along an unfrequented 
path on the side of the mountain. A heavy snowstorm 
also helped to mask the movement. While the enemy 



66 STOarES AXD SKETCHES OF OARFIELD. 

were watcliiiii,' the cavalry, Gai-field liad led the infantry to 
within a quarter of a mile of their camp. Then an attack 
was ordered, the enemy taken by surprise, and a few volleys 
Bent them in confusion down the side of the mountain into 
Virj^inia. (Considerable quantities of stores were captured. 

That night the victorious troops rested in the comfoi-tablo 
log huts built by the enemy, and the next morning burned 
them down. Six days afterward, the command was ordered 
to Louisville. These operations had been conducted with 
such energy and skill as to receive the special commenda- 
tion of the Government, and Col. Garfield was given a 
commission as Brigadier General. The discomfiture of 
Humphrey Marshall was a source of special chagrin to the 
rebel symj>athizers of Kentucky, and Garfield took rank in 
the popular estimation among the most promising of the 
volunteer Generals. 

On his return to Louisville after the campaign, he found 
the army ol the Ohio already beyond Nashville, on its 
way to Gen. Grant's aid at Pittsburg Landing. He 
hastened after it, and assunied command of the Twentieth 
Brigade. He reached the field on Pittsburg Landing 
about one o'clock on the second day of the battle, and 
participated in the closing scenes. 

When Gen. Buell sought to prepare a new campaign, he 
assigned Gen. Gai-field to the task of rebuilding the bridges 
and railroad from Corinth to Decatur. After performing 
the duty with great skill and energy, he found himself 
reduced by fever and ague, which he had contracted in the 
days of his tow-path service on the OJiio Canal, and went 
home on sick leave. ~^ 

Soon after he received orders to j^rocecd to Cumberland 
Gaj) and relieve Gen. George W. Morgan of his command ; 
but he was too ill to leave his bed, and another officer was 
Bcnt to the service. ' 



WAR RECORD. 67 

As soon as his health would permit, he was ordered to 
Washin<2^ton, where he was placed u])()n court-martial U)v 
the noted trial ot Fitz John Porter. 

Gen. Garfield was one of the clearest and foremost in the 
conviction ot Porter's guilt, and had the bill to restore 
Porter ever been brought up in the House of Representa- 
tives, he would have made a determined opposition to its 
passage ; but Gen. Logan finished the shameful scheme in 
the Senate, and Gen. Garfield never had an o])portunity to 
deli*^er a speech wliich he had prepared with great 
thoroughness and care. 

After the trial of Fitz John Porter, he was appointed 
Chief of Staff to Gen. Posecrans, and from the day of his 
appointment became the intimate associate and confidential 
adviser of his chief. Garfield's influence had become so 
important in shaping campaigns that he was always con- 
sulted, and during the successful campaigns that followed 
Chickamauga he took an active part. 

Gen. Garfield's military career did not subject him to 
trials of a large scale. lie approved himself a good inde- 
pendent commander in the small operations in Sandy 
Valley. His campaign there opened our series of successes 
in the West. 

As a Chief ©f Staff he was unrivalled. There, as else- 
where, he was ready to accept the gravest responsibilities 
in following his convictions. The bent of his mind was 
judicial, and his judgment of military matters good. 

His record will stand for him a monument of courage, 
and his conduct at Chickamauga will never be forgotten hj 
a nation of brave men. 




58 STOliJEii AND .SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Col. Garfield's First Great Battle- He Defeats Humphrey Marshall and Wins 
a Brigadier-Generalship. 

On the ITtli of Decfiuber, 1801, Garfield left Camp 
Chase, Ohio, with his regiment (Forty-second Ohio) mider 
orders for tlie Bi,i( Sandy Valley region in Eastern Ken- 
tucky. U]ion arriving in Louisville lie was invited l)y Gen. 
Hueli to arrange his own campaign, and he accordingly pre- 
])ared a plan, which was submitted to and approved by the 
commanding General. The next day he started for his 
field of operations with a command consisting of four 
regiments of infantry and about two hundred cavalry. 

The Big Sandy was reached and folloAved up for some 
sixty miles throucfh a rouii-h, mountainous region, his force 
driving the outposts of Gen. Iluin])lirey Marshall before 
them for a considerable distance. 

On the 7th of January, 1862, he drove the enemy's cav- 
alry from Paintsvilie, after a severe skirmi.^li, killing and 
wounding twenty-five of them. At a strong point, three 
miles above Paintsvilie, Marshall had prepared to make a 
stand, with 4,500 infantry, 700 cavalry, and two batteries 
ot six guns eacli; but, his cavalry being driven in, his 
courage faili'd, and he hastily evacuated hjs works and 
retreated up the river. 

The ra|>id marching thus far had much exhausted Gen. 
Garfield's forces; still, he resolved to pursue, and, selecting 
1,100 of his best troo])s, he continued on to Prestonburg, 
a distance of fifteen miles. There he found the Rebels 
strongly posted on the crest of a hill, at once attacked 
them, and maintained the battle during five hours, the 
enemy's caiuioii nieanwhile playing briskly. 

Although nntst of (Jarfield's troops were now under fire 
for the first time, their daring valor swept all before them. 
The Rebels were driven from every position, and, aflter de- 



WAR RECORD. 69 

utroying their stores, wagons, and camp equipage, tliey 
retreated in disorder to Pound Gap, in the Cumberland 
iloontains. This was the iirst brilliant achievement of the 
War in the West, and a most complete and humiliating 
defeat to the Rebels, their loss in killed and wounded 
amounting to two Inmdred and tifty, in addition to forty 
taken prisoners, while the Union loss was but thirty-two, 
aJl told. 

It is said that at the time of this battle, Gen. Garfield 
had in his possession a letter written a short time before 
by Humplirey Marshall to his wife, but intercepted by Gen. 
Buell and sent to Gen. Garfield, in which Marshall stated 
that he had five thousand effective men in his command. 
This letter General Garfield refrained from showing to his 
officers and men until after the battle. His commission as 
Brigadier dated from the battle of Prestonburg. 



Full details of Garfield's Pound-Gap Expedition— Strategy and Victory— Battle 
of Pittsburg Landing, Etc. 

About the middle of March he made his famous Pound- 
Gap expedition, for a proper understanding of which a few 
words descriptive of the locality will be necessary. Pound- 
Gap is a zig-zag opening through the Cumberland Moun- 
tains into Virginia, leading into a tract of fertile meadow- 
land lying between the base of the mountains and a st ream 
called Pound Fork, which bends around the opening of the 
gap, at some little distance from it, forming what is called 
"the Pound." These names originated in this wise: This 
mountain locality was for a long time the home of certain 
predatory Indians, from which they would make periodical 
forays into Virginia for plunder, and to which they would 
retreat as rapidly as they came, carrying with them the 
stolen cattle, which they would pasture in the meadow-land 



60 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

just mentioned. Hence, among the settlers it became 
known as "The Pound," and from it the gap and stream 
took their names. After liis defeat at Prestonburg, as has 
been stated, Humphrey Marsliall retreated with his 
scattered forces tlirough the gap into Virginia. A foroo of 
5U0 rebels was left to guard the pass against any sudden 
incursion of Gen. Garfield's force, who, to make assurance 
doubly sure, had built direetly across the gaj) a formidable 
l)reast\vork, completely blocking up the way, and behind 
wliich 500 men could resist the attack of as many thousand. 
Behind these works, and on the southwestern slope of the 
mountains, they had erected commodious cabins for winter 
quarters, where they spent their time in ease and comfort, 
occasionally — by way of variety, and in imitation of their 
Indian predecessors — descending from their stronghold 
into Kentucky, greatly to the damtige of the stock-yards 
and livdei-s of the well-to-do fanners of that vicinity, and to 
the \ '. .!iL of their wives and children. 

Gen. Garfield determined to dislodge them from their 
position, and so ])ut an end to their maurauding expe- 
ditions. He accordingly set out with a sufficient foi-ce, and 
after two days' forced march reached the base of the 
mountains a short distance above the gajx Of the strength 
of the rebels and their position he had been well informed 
by the spies he had sent out, who liad penetrated to their 
very camp in the absence of the usual pickets, which were 
never thrown out by them, so secui-e did they feel in their 
mountain fortress. It "would have been madness to enter 
the gap and attack them in front, and the General did not 
propose or attempt it. Halting at the foot of the mountains 
f )r the night, he sent his cavalry early the next morning to 
the mouth of the gap to menace the rebels and draw them 
from behind their defences. This they did, arriving at a 
given time and threatening an attiick. The rebels jumped 



WAR RECORD. 61 

at tie bait and at once came out to meet them, our men 
rapif Uy retreating, and tlie rebels following until the latter 
werf) Bome distance in front of their breastworks instead 
of behind them. Meantime, Gen. Garfield, with his 
infantry, had scaled the mountain-side, in the face of e 
blipding snow-storm, and, marching along a narrow ridge 
on the summit, had reached the enemy's camp in the rear 
of his fortifications. A vigorous attack was now made, 
resulting in the complete route of the rebels, *many of 
whom were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, and the 
remainder dispersed through the mountains. The General 
ncT reassembled his forces, and spen a comfortable night 
in the enemy's quarters, faring sumptuously on the viands 
there found. The next morning the cabins, sixty in 
number, were burned, the breastworks destroyed, and the 
General set out on his return to Piketon, which he reac;:.'d 
the following night, having been absent four days, and 
having marched in that time about one hundred miles over 
a broken country. On his return he received orders from 
Gen. Buell, at jS'ashville, to report to him in person. 
Arriving at that place, he found that Buell had already 
begun his march towards Pittsburg Landing, and pushed 
on after him. 

Overtaking the army, he was placed in command of the 
Twelfth Brigade, and, with his connnand, participated in 
the second day's fight at Shiloh. lie was present through 
all the operations in front of Corinth, and, after the evacua- 
tion of that place, rebuilt, with his brigade, the bridges on 
the Mem])his & Charleston Railroad, and erected fortifica- 
tions at Stevenson. Throughout the months of July and 
August he was prostrated by 6e\ere sickness, and, conse- 
quently, was not in the retreat to Kentucky or the battles 
fought in that State. During his illness he was assigned 
to the command of the forces at Cumberland Gap, but 



61' bTOIUES AND .'KETCHES OF QARFIELD. 

could not assume it. Upon his recovery, he was ordered to 
Wiishin^ton, and detailed as a member of the Fitz John 
Porter court martial, vhich occupied forty-five days, and in 
which his gnat abilities as a lawyer and a soldier were 
called forth and freely recognized. AVlien the court 
adjourned he was ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, and 
by liim was placed in the responsible position of Chief 
of Staff, though at fir<t it had been intended to give him 
only the command of a division in the field. 



Gen. Garfield's Proclamation to thfi Citizens of Sandy Valley. 

On the 16th day of January, 18(52, Garfield, then in 
command of the Union forces in Eastern Kentucky, issued 
the following address to the inhabitants: 

" Citizens of Sandy Valley: I have come among you to re- 
store the honor of the Union, and to bring back the old banner 
which you once loved, but whicli, by the machinations of evil 
men, and by mutual inisunderstandinir, has been disnonored among 
you. To tliose who are in arms ;igainst the Federal Government 
I offer only the alternate of battle or unconditional surrender. 
But to those who have taken no part in this war, who are in no 
way aiding or abetting the enonrics of tliis Union— even to those 
who hold sentiments averse to tho Union, but will give no aid or 
comfort to its enemies— I offer the full protection of the Govern- 
ment, both in their persons and property. 

"Let those who have been sediin'd away from the love of their 
country to follow after and aid the destroyers of our peace lay 
down their arms. rKurn to tlieir liomes, bear true allegiance to the 
Federal Govornmeiit, and tiu-y shall also enjoy like protection. 
Tli(^ armv of tlio Union wages no war of plunder, but comes to 
brinj,' back the prosperity of peace. Let all peace-loving citizens 
who liave lied from tlieir homes return anil resume again the pur- 
.suitsof p(!aeoand industry. If citizens have suffered from any 
outrages by thosoldiers under my command, I invito them to make 
known their complaints to me, and their wrongs shall be rwlressod 
and the offenders punished. I expect tlio friends of the Union in 
this valley to banish from among them all piivate feuds, and let a 



WAR RECORV. ^^ 

liberal love of country direct their conduct toward those who 
have been so sadly estraviMl and misguided, lioping tiiat these days 
of turbulence may soon be euded and the days of tlie Republic 
soon return. J. A. GARFIELD, 

"Colonel CoinmaiuUng Brigade." 

Gen. Garfield moved his forces to Piketon, Ky., 120 
miles above the mouth of the 13ig Sandy. Here he re- 
mained several weeks; sendiiij^ out, meanwhile, expeditions 
in everv direction wherever he could hear of a Rebel camp 
or band, and at leui^th completely cleared the whole coun- 
try of the enemy. 



Heroic Conduct of Gen. Garfield on the Field of Chickamaugua— Driving Back 
Longstreet's Columns and Saving Gen. Thomas. 

Gen. Garfield was made a Major-General for " gaUant 
and meritorious services at the battle of Chickamauga.'* 
What those services were may be learned from the follow- 
ing extract from the history of the Forty-second Ohio In- 
fantry, page 18: 

Trying vainly to cheek the retreat [of Rosecrans] Gen. 
Garfield was swept with his chief back beyond Rossville. 
But the Chief of Staff could not concede that defeat had 
been entire. He heard the roar of Thomas' guns on the 
left, and gained permission of Rosecrans to go around 
to that (quarter and find the Army of the Cumber- 
land. While the commander busied himself with pre- 
pfn-ing a refuge at Chattanooga for his routed army, his 
Chief of Staff went back accompanied by a staff officer and 
a few orderlies, to find whatever part of the army still held 
its ground and save what was lost. It was a perilous ride. 
Long before he reached Tliomas one of his orderlies was 
killed. Almost alone he pushed on over the obstructed 
road, through pursuers and pursued, found the heroic 
Thomas encircled by fire, but still firm, told him of the 



S4 8T0RIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

disaster on the riglit, and explained liow he could withdraw 
his right wing and fix it upon a oew line to meet Long- 
street's c'(»lujnn. The movement was made just in time, 
but Thomas' line was too short. It would not reach to 
tlie base of the mountain. Longstreet saw the gap, drove 
liis cohimn into it, and would have struck Thomas' column 
fatally in the rear. In that critical moment Gen. Gordon 
Granger Ciime uj) with Steedman's division, which moved 
in heavy column, threw itself upon Loii."->treet, and after a 
terrillc struggle drove him back. The dead and wounded 
lay in heaps where these two columns met, but the army 
of Gen. Thomas was saved. As night closed in around the 
heroic Army of the Cumberland, Gens. Garfield and 
Granger, on foot and enveloped in smoke, directed the 
loading and pointing of a battery of jSTapoleon guns, whose 
flash, as they thundered after the retreating column 
of the assailants, was the last light that shone upon the 
battlefield of Chickamauga. 

This ride of Garfield's was one of the gallantest acts of 
the war, and so recognized at the time by the Government 
and ])coj)le. It earned Garfield the lasting friendship and 
regard of Gen. Tliomas and all associated with him, and 
gave him a name as a brave soldier which no malicious 
Bcribhler can now- take away. 

A corres])ondent on the field, W. S. Furay, under date 
of S^-pteiiibcr 21, 18<i3, after deseri])ing the perilous con- 
dition of tlie (luiim Army, speaks of Garfield's ride and 
arrival on tlie battlefield, as iollows: 

J u>t before the storm broke, the brave and high-souled 
Garfield was perceived making his way to the headcpiarters 
of (ien. Thomfis. Tie had come to be present at the final 
contest, and in order to do so had ridden all the way from 
Cliattanooga, passing through a fiery ordeal upon the road. 
His horse was shot under him, and his orderly was killed 



WAR liECOIiD. C5 

by his side. Still lie liad come tlirou^di, he scarce knew 
how, and here he was to insi)ire fresh courage into the 
liearts of the brave soldiers, who were liolding the enemy 
at bay, to bring them words of greeting from Gen. Rose- 
erans, and to inform them that the latter was reorganizing 
the scattered troops, and, as fast as possible, would hurry 
them forward to their relief. 

Just upon the side of the hill, to the left, and in rear of 
the still smoking ruins of the house, was gathered a group 
whose names are destined to be historical — Thomas, 
Whitaker, Granger, Garfield, Steedman, Wood. Calmly 
they watched the progress of the tempest, speculated upon 
its duration and strength, and devised methods to break its 
fury. The future analyst will delight to dwell upon the 
characteristics and achievements of each member of this 
group, and even the historian of the present, hastening to 
the completion of his task, is constrained to pause a 
moment only to repeat their names — Whitaker, Garfield, 
Granger, Thomas, Steedman, Wood. 

The fight around the hill now raged with terror inex- 
perienced before, even upon this terrible day. Our 
soldiers were formed in two lines, and as each marched up 
to the crest and fired a deadly volley at the deadly foe, 
it fell back a little ways, the men lay down upon the 
ground to load their guns, and the second line advanced to 
take their place! They, too, in their turn retired, and 
then the lines kept marching back and forth, and deliver- 
ing their withering volleys, till the very brain grew dizzy 
as it watched them. And all the time not a man wavered. 
Every motion was executed with as much precision as 
though the troops were on a holiday parade, notwith- 
standing the flower of the rebel army were swarming 
around the foot of the hill, and a score of cannon were 
thundering from three sides upon it. 

6 



STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 06 

But our troops are no longer satisfied M'ith the defensive. 
Gen. Tuivhin, at the head of his brigade charged into the 
rel>el. lines, and cut his "way out again, bringing with him 
300 prisoners. Other portions of this brave band followed 
Turchin's example, until the legions of the enemy were 
fairly driven back to the ground they occuj)ied previous to 
coniniencing the fight. Thus did 1:^,000 or 15,000 men, 
animated by heroic impulses, and inspired by worthy 
leaders, save from destruction the Army of the Cum!)er- 
land. Let the Nation honor them as they deserve. 

Among those killed at this battle were: Gen. W. U. 
Lytle; Col. Grose, commanding a brigade in Palmer's 
division; Col. Baldwin, commanding a brigade in Johnson's 
division; Major Wall, of Gen. Davis' staif; Capt. Russell, 
A. A. G. on Gen. Granger's staff; Col. II. C. Heg, com- 
manding brigade in Gen. Davis' division; Capt. Tinker, 
of tlie Sixth Ohio, and Capt. Parshall, of the Thirty-fiflh 
Ohio. 



Cloiing Scenes in Oarfleld's War Eecord — Why He Left the Army. 

In 1862, while still an officer in the army, he was elected 
a Representative in Congress from Ohio, from the old Gid. 
dings district. About the same time lie was sent to Wash- 
ington as the bearer of dispatches. He there learned for 
the first time of his ])romotion to a Major-Gencralshi]) of 
volunteers " for gallant and meritorious conduct at the bat- 
tk' of Chickamauga.'' lie might have retained this posi- 
tion in the army; and the military ca])acity he had dis- 
played, the high favor in which he was held by the Gov- 
ernment, and the certainty of his assignment to important 
commands, seemed to aufjur a brilliant future. He was a 



WAR RECORD. 



67 



poor nuiii, too, and the Major-General's salary was more 
than double that of the Congressman. But, on nuitnre re- 
flection, he decided that the circumstances under which the 
people had elected him to Congress in a measure compelled 
him to obey their wishes. He was furthermore urged to 
enter Congress by the officers of the army, who looked to 
him lor aid in procuring such military legislation as the 
country needed and the army required. Under the belief 
that the path of usefulness to the country lay in the direc- 
tion in which his constituents had pointed, Gen. Garfield 
sacrificed what seemed to be his personal interests, ai^d, on 
the 5th of December, 1863, resigned his commis^v*-. ^H^ 
nearly three years' service, to enter Congress. 





GEN. GARFIELD'S RESIDENCE IN WASHINGTON. 



SPEECHES. 



Oen. Oarfield is Called to the Halls of Confess from the Fields of War— How 

it was Done— Early Experience of the Farmer Boy 

on the Floor. 

The Congressional District in whicli Garlield lived was 
the one long made famous by Joshua K. Giddings. The 
old anti-slavery champion grew careless of the arts of poli- 
tics toward the end of his career, and came to look upon a 
nomination and a re-election as a matter of course. 

His over-confidence was taken advantage of in 1858 by 
an ambitious lawyer named Hutch ins to carry a conven- 
tion against him. The triends of Giddings never forgave 
Hutchins, and cast about for a means of defcatiiiir him. 
The old man himself was comfortal)ly C|uartere(l in his Con- 
sulate at Montreal, and did not care to make a fiirht to sret 
back to Congress. So his 8U])porters made use of the pop- 
ularity of Gen. Garfield and noniinated liim when he was 
in the field without asking his consent. This was iii 1862. 

When he heard of the nomination Garfield reflected that 
it would be fifteen months before the Congress would meet 
to which he would be elected, and believing, as did ev^ery- 
one else, that the war could not possibly last a year longer, 
concluded to accept. I have often heard him, says a friend, 
express regret that he did not helj) fight the war through, 
and say that he never would have left the army to go to 

69 



7o slfHH/CS A\/> sK 1:1 (11 EH OF GARFIELD. 

('ougivss had lie toroset'ii that the struggle would continue 
h»'Y<»nd the yeur IS*;;*,. He continued his military service 
uj> to the time Ct)ngress met. 

He was elected to succeed Joshua R Giddings, who had 
served for twenty years as the representative from the dis- 
trict composed of the large and prosperous counties in 
Northeastern Ohio. lie resigned from the army under the 
belief that the path of usefulness to his country lay in the 
direction of C'ongress rather than tlie military service. He 
sacrificed what seemed to be his personal interest, and 
resigning his commission he entered the Thirty-eiglith 
(Vjngress. Before taking liis seat lie M'as promoted to 
Major General of volunteers. 

On entering Congress, in December, 1863, Gen. Garfield 
was placed upon the Committee on Military Affairs with 
Schenck and Farnsworth, who were also fresh from the 
field. He took an active part in the debates of the House, 
and Won a recosrnition which few new members succeed in 
gaining. 

He was not populai- among his fellow members during 
his first term. They thought him something of a pedant 
because he sometimes showed his scholarship in his 
speeches, and they were jealons of his prominence. His 
solid attainments and able social quai.ties enabled him to 
overcome this prejudice during his second term, and he be- 
<-aine on terms of close friendship with the best men in 
lioth Houses. 

His committee service during his second term was on the 
Ways and Means, which was quite to his taste, for it gave 
him an op])ortunity to pnjsecute the studies in finance and 
|Ktlitical economy which he had always felt a fondness for. 
He was a hard worker and a great reader in those days, 
going lionie with his arms full of books from the Congres- 
sional Library, and sitting up late of nights to read them. 



SPEECHES. 11 

It ^7as then that he laid the foundations of the convictions 
on the subject of National Finance, which he has since held 
to firmly amid all the storms of political a<^itation. lie was 
renominated in 1864, without opposition, but in 1806 Mr. 
llutchins, whom he had supplanted, made an effort to de- 
feat him. llutchins canvassed the district thorou^hlv, but 
the convention nominated Garfield by acclamation. He 
has had no opposition since by his own party. 

In 1872 the Liberals and Democrats united to beat him, 
but his majority was larger than ever. In 1874 the Green- 
backers and Democrats combined and put up a popular 
soldier against him, but they made no impression on the 
result. The Ashtabula district, as it is generally called, is 
the most faithful to its representatives of any in the North. 
It has had but four members in half a century. 



Seventeen Years a Member of Congress— Garfield's Great Work in tbe 
Halls of Legislation— A Triumphant Leader. 

In the Fortieth Congress Gen. GarficiQ was Chairman of 
the Committee on Military Aflairs. In the Forty-first he 
was given the Chairmanship of Banking and Currency, 
which he liked much better, because it was in the line of 
his financial studies. His next promotion was to the Chair- 
manship of the Appropriations Committee, which he held 
until the Democrats came into power in the House in 1875. 
His chief work on that committee was a steady and judi- 
cious reduction of the expenses of the Government. In 
all the political struggles in Congress he has borne a lead- 
ing part, his clear, vigorous, and moderate style of argu- 
•ment making him one of the most effective debaters in 
•eitlier House. 

When James G. Blaine went to the Senate in 1877 the 



12 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

mantle of Republican leadershij) was by common consient 
|il:icod upon (Tartield, and he has worn it ever since. 

liecently (ien. (iartield was eku-ted to the Senate to the 
seat vacated by Alk^n (i. Thui-iuan on tlie 4th of March, 
1881. He received tlie unanimous vt)te of the Republican- 
caucus, an honor never given to any man of any party in 
the State of Ohio. Since his election he has been tlie re- 
cipient of many complimentary manifestations in Washing- 
ton and in Ohio. 

As a leader in the House he is more cautious and less 
dashing than Blaine, and his judicial turn of mind makes 
him too prone to look for two sides of a question for him 
to be an efficient partisan. When the issue fairly touches 
his convictions, however, he becomes thoroughly aroused 
and strikes tremendous blows. Blaine's tactics were to 
continually harrass the enemy by sharp-shooting surprises 
and picket firing. Garfield waits for an opportunity to 
deliver a pitched battle, and his generalship is shown to 
best advantaije when the fiijht is a fair one and wafj^ed on 
grounds where each party thinks itself strongest. Then 
liis solid shot of argument are exceedingly effective. On 
the stump Garfield is one of the very best orators in the 
Kepublican party. lie has a good voice, an air of evident 
sincerity, great clearness and vigor of statement, and a way 
of knitting his arguments together so as to make a speech 
deepen its impression on the mind of the hearer until the 
climax is reached. 

Of his industry and studious habits a great deal might 
be said, but a single illustration will have to suffice here. 
Once during the busiest part of a very busy session at 
Washington, says a friend, " I found him in his library 
behind a big barricade of books. This was no unusual 
sight, but when I glanced at the volumes I saw tliat they 
were all different editions of lIor;u'(\ or books relating to 
that poet." 



SPEECHES. 73 

" I tind I Mill overworked, and need recreation," said the 
General. 

" Now, my theory is that the hest way to rest the mind 
is not to let it be idle, hut to put it at soniethin«^ quite out- 
side the ordinary line of its employment. So I am resting 
by learning all the Congressional Library can show about 
Horace and the various editions and translations of his 
poems." 

Through the contests of the Fortieth Congress with the 
President he was firmly on the radical side. His health 
was seriously impaired by his laborious discharge of public 
duties, and at the close of the summer session, by the 
advice of his physician, he sailed for Europe. 

Since his first election Gen. Garfield has served consecu- 
tively in Congress, and has been the leader on the Republi- 
can side for the last five years; his speeches are among the 
most eftective ever delivered by any man in any parliamen- 
tary body, and, while as a leader lie has not been considered 
sufficiently aggressive, his advice has always been carefully 
heeded, and has been effectual in holding back the more 
radical of the Republicans. 



Oarfield on the Democracy— Extract from one of his Old Speeches— His Walk 
in the Democratic Graveyard. 

The following is an extract from a speech delivered by 
Gen Garfield, August 4th, 1870, in the National House 
of Representatives: 

Mr. Chairman: It is now time to inquire as to the fitness 
of this Democratic party to take control of our great nation 
and its vast and important interest for the next four years. 
I put the question to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. 
Lamar), what has the Democratic party done to merit that 
great trust? He tries to show in what respects it would 



74 STORFES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

not be dangerous. 1 iisk him to sliow in wlmt it would be 
safe^ 

1 atiirni, ;iiul I believe 1 do not misrepresent the great 
Democratic party, that in the last sixteen years they have 
not advanced one great national idea that is not to-day 
exploded and as dead as Julius Ciesar. And if any 
Dniiiiciat liciv will rise and name a great national doctrine 
ills party has advanced, within that time, that is now alive 
and believed in, 1 will yield to him. {^A pause.) In default 
of an answer, I will attempt to prove my negative. 

What were the great central doctrines of the Democratic 
party in the Presidential struggle of 1860? The followers 
ot Breckenridge said slavery had a right to go wherever the 
Constitution goes. Do you believe that to-day? And is 
there a man on this continent that holds that doctrine 
to-day? Not one. That doctrine is dead and buried. Tlie 
other wing ot the Democracy held that slavery might be 
established in the Territories if the people wanted it. Does 
anybody hold that doctrine to-day? Dead, absolutely dead! 

Come down to 1804. Your party, under the lead of 
Tilden and Vallandigham, declared the experiment of war 
to save the Union was a failure. Do you believe that 
doctrine to-day? That doctrine was shot to death by the 
guns of Farragut at Mobile, and driven, in a tempest of 
tire, from the valley of the Shenandoah by Sheridan, less 
than a month after its birth at Chicago. 

(\)me down to 1808. You declared the constitutional 
amendments revolutionary and void. Does any man on 
this flo(»r say so to-day? If so. let him rise and declare it. 

Do you l»i'lievc in the doctrine of the Rroadhead letter 
<it" IsriSjiiat the so-called constitutional amendments should 
be disregai-ded? Xo; the gentleman from Mississippi 
ai'cepts tlie results ot the war! The Democratic doctrine 
of 1808 is dead! 



SPEECHES. 75 

I walk across that Democratic camping-ground as in a 
graveyard. Under my feet resound the hollow echoes of 
tlie dead. There lies slavery, a black marble column at the 
head of its grave, on which I read: Died in the flames ot 
the civil war; loved in its life; lamented in its death; 
followed to its bier by its only mourner, tlie Democratic 
party, but dead! And here is a double grave: sacred to 
the memory of squatter sovereignty. Died in the cam- 
paign of 18G0. On the reverse side: Socred to the memory 
of Dred Scott and the Breckenridge doctrine. Both dead 
at the hands of Abraham Lincoln! And here a monument 
of brimstone: Sacred to the memory of the rebellion; the 
war against it is a failure; Tilden et YallandighaTn 
fecerunt^ A. D. 1864. Dead on the field of battle; shot to 
death by the million guns of the Eepublic. The doctrine 
of secession; of State sovereignty. Dead. Expired in the 
flames of civil war, amid the blazing rafters of the con- 
federacy, except that the modern J^neas, fleeing out of the 
flames of that ruin, bears on his back another Ancliises of 
State sovereignty, .and brings it here in the person of the 
honorable gentleman from the Appomattox district of 
Virginia (Mr. Tucker). All else is dead! 

Now, gentlemen, are you sad, are you sorry for these 
deaths? Are you not glad that secession is dead? that 
slavery is dead? that squatter sovereignty is dead? that the 
doctrine of the failure of the war is dead? Then you are 
glad that you were outvoted in 1860, in 1864, in 1868, and 
in 1872. If you have tears to shed over these losses, shed 
them in the grave-yard, but not in this House of living 
men. I know that many a Southern man rejoices that 
these issues are dead. The gentleman from Mississippi 
(Mr. Limar) has clothed his joy with eloquence. 

Now, gentlemen, if you yourselves are glad that you have 
enflfered defeat during the last sixteen years, will you not 



76 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

be equally glad when you suffer defeat next November? 
But ])ardon that remark; I regret it; I should use no 
bravjido. 

Now, gentlemen, come with me for a moment into 
the camp of the Rejniblican party and review its career. 
Our central doctrine in 1860 was that slavery should never 
extend itself over another foot of American soil. Is that 
doctrine dead? It is folded away like a victorious banner; 
its truth is alive for evermore on this continent. In 1864 
we declared that we would put down the rebellion and 
secession. And that doctrine lives, and will live when the 
second Centennial has arrived. Freedom, national, uni- 
versal, and perpetual — our great constitutional amend- 
ments, are they alive or dead? Alive, thank the God that 
shields both liberty 'and union. And our national credit! 
saved from the assaults of Pendleton; saved from the' 
assaults of those who struck it later, rising higher and 
higher at home and abroad: and only now in doubt lest its 
chief, its only enemy, the Democracy, should triumph in 
November, 



Garfield's Speech at the 'Wisconsin Bepnblioan Re-anioa— Oatlining Um 
Condition of the Country. 

At the Twenty -lifth Reunion of the Wisconsin Repub- 
licans, held at Madison, in July, 1879, Gen. Garfield spoke 
as follows: 

This vast assembly must have richly enjoyed the review 
of the party's hist(jry ])resentcd here and celel^rated here 
to-day, and not only a review of the ])ast, but the hojieful 
promises mado for the future of that great party. The 
Il«'j)ubli('^in ]>arty, organized a (juarter ot a century ago, 
was m:i<le a ni-ccssity to carry out the pledges of the fathers 
that this should be a laud of jihcrty. 



SPEECHES. 77 

Tliere was in the early days of the Ilcpublic, a Repub- 
lican party that dedicated this very territory, and all our 
vast territory, to fueedoni, that promised much for schools, 
that abolished imprisonment for debt, and that instituted 
many wise reforms. But there were many conservatives 
in tliose days, whose measures degenerated into treason; 
and the E-epublican party of to-day was but the revival of 
the Republican party of seventy years ago, under new and 
broader conditions of usefulness. 

It is well to remember and honor the greatest names of 
the Republican party. One of these is Joshua R. Giddings, 
who for twenty years was freedom's champion in Congress, 
and, from a feeble minority of two, lived to see a Republi- 
can Speaker elected, and himself to conduct him to the 
chair. Another is Abraham Lincohi. the man raised up by 
God for a great mission. No man ever had a truer appre- 
ciation of the principles of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, that great charter which it was the mission of the 
Republican party to enforce. 

Tlicre was a Htness in the first platform of the "Wiscon- 
sin Republicans that they based' themselves upon the 
Declaration of Independence. While the Republicans, from 
the first, have been true to their principles, perfecting- all 
they promised, as proved to-day by the whole record, the 
Democrats, on the other hand, steadily wrong, have been 
forced from one bad position to another. 

Can any Democrat point with pride to his party plat- 
forms of 1854, or find in them any living issue? The issues 
they then presented led us into war and involved us in a 
ffreat National debt. Lookina: for the cause of that debt I 
say that the Democratic party caused it. 

We are, as a Nation, emerging from difficulties, and the 
Republican party alone can probably claim that the bright- 
est page of our country's history has been written by the 



-8 STORIEr AND , KETCUES OF GARFIELD. 

true friends of freedom and progress. The Republican 
party had yf^t vork t do. AVo arc confronted to-day in 
Congress by nearly the same spirit that- prevailed in the 
years just b . irc the war. 

They teil us that the National Government is but the 
servant of the States; that wc shall not interpose, as a 
Nation, to guarantee an honest election in a State; that if 
we will interpose, they will deny appropriations. Is this 
less dangerous than their positi'^n in I06I? Have we no 
interest except in local elections, no power tr guard the 
ballot-box and protect ourselves against outrages upon it? 
Why dues the South make thi.~ issue? I ansv.er: Tliey 
have a solid South, and only need to carry Oli') and .New 
York to elect the President, and they tnist to carry these 
States by the means they best know how to use. 

There are sentimentalists and optimists who may see no 
danger in this. There had been sentimentalists and opti- 
mists in the Republican party, but to-day all were stalwarts. 
President Hayes, when he came into office, was an optimist, 
but he saw all his hopes of conciliation frustrated and all 
his advances met ^vith scorn. We all now stand togetlnM- 
on the issue as one. 



Garfield's Celebrated Speech at the Andersonville Beanion Held at Toledo. 
Ohio, Oct. 3, 1«79— How the General Looks "Without Glovea!" 

The following is the full text of Gen. Garfield's speech at 
the Andersonville reunion at Toledo on Oct. 3, 1879. 

"My CoMRAnEs, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have ad- 
dressed a great numy audiences, l)ut I never before-^stood 
in the presence of nr- that I felt so wholly unworthy to 
-jK'ak to. A man whf^ came through the war without 
]>eing shot or made prisoner is almost out of plaoo in 
such an assemblage as this. 



SPEECHES^. 79 

While I have listened to you this evening I have re- 
membered the words of the <listinguished Kn«^Iish- 
man, who once said, ' that he was willing to die fur 
his country.' J^ow to say that a man is willing to die 
for his country is a good deal, but these men who sit before 
us have said a great deal more than that. I would like to 
know where the man is that would cahnly step out on the 
platform and say : ' I am ready to starve to death for my 
country.' That is an enormous thing to say, but there 
is a harder thing than that. Find a man, if you can, who 
will walk out before this audience and say: 'I am willing 
to become an idiot for my country.' How many men 
could you find who would volunteer to become idiots for 
their country? 

Now let me make this statement to you, fellow-citizens: 
One hundred and eighty-eight thousand such men as this 
were captured by the rebels who were fighting our govern- 
ment. One hundred and eighty-eight thousand! How 
many is that? Tliey tell me there are 4,500 men and 
women in this building to-night! Multiply this mighty 
audience by forty and you will have about 188,000. 
Forty times this great audience were prisoners of war to 
the enemies of our country. And to every man of that 
enormous company there stood open night and day the 
offer: 'If you will join the rebel army, and lift up your 
hand against your flag, you are free.' " 

A voice— "Tliat'sso." 

Gen. Garfield— "' And you shall have food, and you 
shall have clothing, and you shall see wife, and mother, and 
child.'" 

A voice — " We didn't ao it, though." 

Gen. Garfield — "•And do you know that out of tiiat 
188,000 there were less than 3.000 who accepted the 
offer? And of those 3,000, perhaps nine-tenths of them 



W STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

did it with tlie mental reservation that they would desert at 
the first hour — the first moment there was an opportunity." 
Voices—'' That's so." 

Gen. Garfield— " But 185,000 out of the 188,000 said: 
'No! not to see wife again; not to see child again; not to 
avoid starvation; iK)t to avoid idiocy; not to avoid the 
most loathsome of deaths, will I lift this hand against my 
country forever.' Now, we praise the ladies for their 
patriotism; we praise our good citizens at home for their 
patriotism; we praise the gallant soldiers who fought and 
fell. But what were all these things compared with that 
yonder? 1 bow in reverence. I would stand with 
undsandaled feet in the presence of such heroism and such 
suffering; and I would say to you. fellow-citizens, such 
an assemblage as this has never yet before met on this great 
earth. 

"Who have reunions? I will not trench upon forbidden 
ground, but let me say this: Nothing on the earth and 
under the sky can call men together for reunions except 
ideas that have immortal truth and immortal life in them. 
The animals fight. Lions and tigers fight as ferociously 
as did you. Wild beasts tear to the death, but they never 
have reunions. Wliy? Because wild beasts do not fight 
for ideas. They merely fight for blood. 

All these men, and all their comrades went out inspired 
by two immortal ideas. 

First, that liberty shall be universal in America. 
And, second, that this old fiag is the fiag of a Nation, 
and not of a State; that the Nation is su^ireme over all 
people and all corporations. 

Call it a State; call it a section; call it a South; call it 
a North; call it anything you wish, and yet, anned with 
the nationality that God gave us, this is a Nation against 
all State-bovereiguity and secesson whatever. It is the 



HOME LIFE. 81 

iminortality of that truth tliat makes these reunions, and 
that makes this one. You believed it ou tlie battle-fiekl, 
you believed it in the hell of Anderson vi lie, and you believe 
it (o-day, thank God; and you will believe it to the last 
gasp." 

V^nces— " Yes, we will." "Tliat's so," etc. 

Cieu. Garfield — "Well, now, lellow-citizens and fellow- 
Holdiers — but I am not worthy to be your fellow in this 
work. I thank you for having asked me to speak to you. 
[Cries of 'Go on! ' 'Go on! ' 'Talk to us some more,' etc.] 

I want to say sim])ly that I have had one opportunity 
only to do you any service. I did hear a man who stood 
i)/ my side in tlie halls of the legislation — the man that 
oiTered on the floor of Congress the resolution that any man 
who commanded colored troops should be treated as a 
pirate, and not as a soldier; as a slave-stealer, and not a3 
a soldier — I heard that man calmly say, with his head up 
in the light, in the presence of this American people, that 
the Union soldiers were as well treated, and as kindly 
treated in all the Southern prisons as were the rebel 
soldiers in all the Northern prisons." 

Voices — " Liar," " Liar! " " He was a liar." 

Gen. Garfield — " I heard him declare that no kinder men 
ever lived than Gen. Winder and his Commander-in-Chief, 
Jeff Davis. [Yells of derision, hisses, etc.] And I took 
it upon myself to overwhelm him with the proof [a roll of 
applause begins], with the proof of the tortures you 
BulFercd, the wrongs done to you, were suffered and done 
with the knowledge of the Confederate authorities from 
Jeflerson Davis down — [great applause, waving of hats, 
veterans standing in their chairs and cheering] — that it 
was a part of their policy to make you idiots and bkcletons, 
and to exchange your broken and shattered bodies and 
d.'ilu'oaed minds for strong, robust, well-fed rebel prisoners. 
6 



82 STOUIL\'^ AND SKET' ITEM'S OF GARFIEFD. 

TliHt j)ulify, I ufiinii, hiis never had i\.:> parallel for atrocity 
ill the civilized world." 

Voice—" That's so." 

Gen. (iarlield — " It was never heard of in any land ginc« 
tlie dark a^es closed upon the earth. "NVliile history lives 
men have memories. AVo can forsfive and forget all other 
thin<rs before wc can fi'r'i:ive and for^jet this. 

Finally, and in conclusion, I am willing, for one — and 
I think I spciik f r thousands of others — I am willing to 
see all the bitterness of the late w'ar buried in the grave of 
our dead. I would be willing that we should imitate the 
condescending, lovini' kindness of liim who planted the 
green grass on the battlefields and let the fresh flowers 
bloom on all the graves alike. I would clasp hands with 
those who fouglit against us, make them my brethren, and 
torgive all the past, only on one supreme condition: that 
it bo admitted in practice, acknowledged in theory, 
that the cause for which we fought, and you suffered, was 
and i.s, and foreverniore will be right, eternally right." 
[Unbounded enthusiasm.] 

Voires— -Thafs it," "That's so," etc. 

Gen. (Jai-field — "That the cause for which they fought 
was, aii<l forever will be, the cause of treason and wrong. 
[Prolonged applause.] Until that is acknowledged my 
hand shall never grasp any i-ebel's hand across any chasm, 
however small." [Great a})plause and cheers.] 




I 



SPEECHES. 8S 

Garfield's Great Speech at Columbus, Acknowledging His Election as 
United States Senator. 

On the 1-ilh of Jainuiry, 16SU, Gen. Garfield arrived in 
Columbus from Wasliiugton. He Iiad that day been form- 
ally declared United States Senator Iroin Ohio, his nominar- 
tion by the liepublicaii Legislative caucus having taken 
place the week before. In an informal reception which 
took place in the Hall of tlie I louso of Kepresentatives dur- 
ing the evening, the General made the following admirable 
speecli : 

Fellow Citizens: I should be a great deal more than a 
man, or a great deal less than a man, if I were notextremely 
gratified by this mark of your kindness you have siiown me 
in recent days. I did not expect any such a meeting as 
this. I knew there was a greeting awaiting mc, but did 
not expect so cordial, generous, and general a greeting with- 
out distinction of party, without distinction of interests, 
as I have received to-night. And you will allow me, in a 
moment or two, to speak of the memories this Chamber 
awakens. 

Twenty years ago this last week I first entered this Cham- 
ber and entered upon the duties of public life, in which I 
have been every hour since that time in some capacity or 
other. I left this Chamber eio-liteen vears atro, and I be- 
lieve I have never entered it since that time. But the place 
is familiar, though it was peopled not with the faces that I 
see before me here to-night alone, but with the faces of 
hundreds of people that I knew here twenty years ago, a 
large number of whom are gone from earth 

It was here in this Chamber that the word was first 
brought of the firing on Fort Sumter. I i-emember dis- 
tinctly a gentleman from Lancaster, the late Senator 
Schleigh — Gen. ^chleigh, who died not very long ago — I 
remember distinctlv !i> Ikj came down this aisle, with all the 



84 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

look of af^oiiy and anxiety in his face, informing us that the 
guns had opened u|)un Sumter. 1 remember that one week 
after that time, on motion of a leading Democratic Senator, 
who (K'cupit'd a seat not far from that position (pointing to 
the Democratic side of the Chamber), tliat we surrendered 
this Chamber to several companies of soldiers, who had 
come t(j Cohimbus to tender their services to the imperiled 
GovernniL-nt. They slept on its carpets and on these sofas, 
and (piartered for two or three nights in this Chamber 
while waiting for other quarters outside of the Capitol. 

All the early scenes of the War are associated with this 
place in my mind. Here were the musterings — here was 
the center, the nerve center, of anxiety and agony. Here 
over 80,000 Ohio citizens tendered their services in the 
course of three weeks to the imperiled nation. Here, 
where we had been lighting our political battles with sharp 
and severe partisanship, there disappeared, almost as if by 
magic, all party lines; and from l)(jth sides of the Chamber 
men went out to take their places on the Held of battle. I 
can see now, as I look out over tlie various seats, where 
sat men who afterward became distinguished in the service 
in high rank, and nobly served their constituency and hon- 
ored themselves. 

We now come to this pjlace, while so many are gone; but 
wo meet here to-night with the war so far back in the dis- 
tance that it is an almost half-forgotten memory. We 
meet here to-night with a nation redeemed. We meet here 
to-night under the flag we fought for. AVe meet with a 
glorious, a great and growing Republic, made greater and 
more glorious by the sacrifices throngli which the country 
luuj ]>assed. And coming here as I do to-night brings the 
two ends of twenty years together, with all the visions of 
the terrible and <rlorious, the touchiuix and cheerful, that 
have occuiTcd duriuir that time. 



SPEECHES. 86 

I cume here to-nigbt, fellow-citizens, to thank this Gen- 
eral Assembly for their great act of confidence and compli- 
ment to me. I do not undervahie the office that you have 
tendered to me yesterday and tu-day; hnt I say, L think, 
without any mental reservation, that the manner in which 
it was tendered to me is far higher to me, far more desira- 
ble, than the thing itself. That it has been a voluntary 
gift of the General Assembly of Ohio, without solicitation, 
tendered to me because of their confidence, is as touching 
and as high a tribute as one man can receive from his fel- 
low-citizens, and in the name of all my friends, for myself, 
I give you my thanks. 

I recognize the importance of the place to which you 
have elected me; and I should be base if I did not also re- 
cognize the great man whom you have elected me to 
succeed. I say for him, Ohio has had few larger-minded, 
broader-minded men in the records of our histoi'y than that 
of Allen G. Thurman. Differing widely from him, as I 
have done in politics, and do, I recognize him as a man 
high in character and great intellect; and I take this occa- 
sion to refer to what I have never before referred to in 
public: that many years ago, in the storm of party fighting, 
when the air was filled with all sorts of missies aimed at the 
character and reputation of public men, when it was even for 
his party interest to join tho general clamor against me and 
my associates. Senator Thurman said in public, in the cam- 
paign, on the stump — when men are as likely to say unkind 
things as at any place in the world — a most generous and 
earnest word of defense and kindness for me wliich I shall 
never forget so long as I live. I say, moreover, that the 
flowers that bloom over the garden v^'-all of party politics are 
the sweetess and most fragant that bloom in the gardens of 
this world; and where we can fairly })luek them and enjoy 
their fragrance, it is manly and deliglitful to do so. 

And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly, without 



88 .s"/'oy«:/ A'.s . 1 iV i> sk i':r< u /: .s oi'^ (ia rfiej. d. 

distinction <»t' ])urty, I recognize this tribute and (;om})li- 
iiiciit ]t;iid to me to-night. Whatever my own course may 
Ik! in tlie future, a huge share of the insi)iration of my 
future j)ublic life will he drawn from this occasion and 
these surroundings, and I shall feel anew the sense of ob- 
ligation tliat I feel to the State ot Ohio. Let me venture 
to point a single sentence;! in regard to that work. During 
the twenty years that I have been in ])ublic life, almost 
eighteen of it in the (Congress of the United States, I have 
tried to do one thing. Whether I was mistaken or other- 
wise, it has been the plan of my life to follow my conviction 
at whatever personal cost to myself. 

I have represented for many years a district in Congress; 
whose approbation I greatly desiivd; but though it may 
seem, perhaps, a little egotistical to say it, I yet desired 
still more the approbation of one person, and his name was 
Gai-iield. He is the oidy man that I am compelled to sleep 
with, and eat with, and live with, and die with; and if I 
could not have his approbation I should have bad compan- 
ionship. And in this larger constituency which has called 
me to represent them now, I can only do what is true to 
my best self, applying the same rule. 

And if I sh(juld be so unfortunate as to lose the conii- 
donce of this larger constituency, I must do what every 
other fair-minded man has to do — carry his political life in 
his hand and would take the consequences. But I must 
follow what seems to me to be the only safe rule of my life; 
and with that view of the cose, and with that much personal 
reference, I leave that subject. 

Thanking you again, fellow-citizens, members of the 
General Assembly, Republicans as well as Democrats — all, 
party men !ls I am — thanking you both for what you have 
done and for this cordial and manly greeting, I bid you 
good-night. 



SPEECHES. 87 

Cfen. Garfield en the Floor of the Great Chicago Convention-Full Text of 
His Eloquent Speech Nominating John Sherman For President- 
Delivered June 5, 1880. 

It was after full fifteen minutes of applause for a pre- 
ceeding candidate, in an assembly of 15,000 souls, that Gen. 
Garfield arose and calmly addressed the Convention at 
Chicago as follows: 

"Mr. President: I have witnessed the extraordinary 
scenes of this Convention with deep solicitude. No emo- 
tion touches my heart more quickly than a sentiment in 
Iioncjr of a great and noble character. But as I sat on these 
seats and witnessed these demonstrations, it seemed to me 
you were a human ocean in a tempest. I have seen the sea 
lashed into fury and tossed into a spray, and its grandeur 
moves the soul of the dullest man. But I remember that 
it is not the billows, but the calm level of the sea from 
which all heights and depths are measured. When the 
storm has passed and the hour of calm settles on the ocean, 
when sunshine bathes its smooth surface, then the 
astronomer and surveyer takes the level from which lie 
measures all terrestrial heights and depths. Gentlemen 
©f the Convention, your present temper may not mark the 
healthful pulse of the people. 

"AVhen our enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions of 
this hour have subsided, we shall find the calm level of 
public opinion, below the storm, from which the thoughts 
of a mighty people are to be measured, and by which their 
final action will be determined. Not here, in this brilliant 
circle, where 15,000 men and women are assembled, is the 
destiny of the Republic to be decreed; not here, where I 
Bee the enthusiastic faces of 756 delegates waitingr to cast 
their votes into the urn and determine- the choice of their 
party; but b}^ 5,000,000 Republican firesides, where the 
tlioughtful fathers, with wives and children about them, 



68 i^TORIE^ AND SKETCH Eti OF OARFIELD. 

with the cmIiii thoui^^lits insjjiivd by love of liome ami love 
of country, with the liistorv of the past, the hopes of tiic 
future, and the knowledge of the great men who have 
adorned and bles.sed oar Nation in days gone by, — there 
God prepares the verdict that shall determine the wisdom 
of our work to-night. Xot in Chicago, in the heat of June, 
but in the sober quiet that comes between now and 
November, in the silence of deliberate judgment, will this 
great (juestion be settled. Let us aid them to-night. 

"liut now, gentlemen of the Convention, what do we 
want? Bear with me a moment. Hear me for this cause, 
and, for a moment, be silent that you may hear. Twenty- 
five years ago this Republic was wearing a tri])le chain of 
bondage. Long familiarity with the trathc in the body 
and souls of men had paralyzed the consciences of a 
majority of our ])eoi)le. The baleful doctrine of State 
sovereignty had shocked and weakened the noblest and 
most beneficent powers (.)f the National Government, and 
the grasping power of slavery was seizing the virgin Terri- 
tories of the West and dragging them into the den of 
eternal ])ondage. At that crisis the Republican ]>arty was 
born. It drew its first inspiration from the fire of liberty 
which God has lighted in every man's heart, and wliich all 
tlie powers of ignorance and tyranny can never wholly 
extinguish. The Republican party came to deliver and 
Bave the Republic. It entered the arena when the 
beleaguered and assailed Territories were struggling for 
freedom, and drew around them the sacred circle of liberty, 
which the demon of slavery has never dared to cross. It 
made them free forever. 

"Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, the young 
party, under the leadership (if that great man, who, on this 
spot, twenty years ago, was made its hvider, entered the 
National Capital and assumed the high duties of the CJov- 



SPEECHES. w> 

eminent. The liglit wliieli shone iVoia its banner <li. j)clle(l 
the darkness in which slavery liad enslirouded the C,ij)iloI 
and melted the shackles of every slave, and consnined, in 
the fire ot liberty, every slave-pen within the shadow of the 
Capitol. Our National industries, by an impoverishing 
policy, were themselves prostrated, and the streams ot 
revenue llowed in such feeble currents that the Ti'easury 
itself was well nigh empty. The money of the people was 
the wretched notes of 2,000 uncontrolled and irresponsible 
State bank corporations, which were tilling the country with 
a circulation that poisoned rather than sustained the life of 
business. 

"The Republican party changed all this. It abolished 
the babel of confusion and gave the country a currency as 
national as its flag, based upon the sacred faith of the 
people. It threw its protecting arm around our great 
industries, and they stood erect as with new life. It filled 
with the spirit of true nationality all the great functions 
of the Government. It confronted a rebellion of unex- 
ampled magnitude, with a slavery behind it, and, under 
God, fought the final battle of liberty until victory was 
won. Then, after the storms of battle, were heard the 
sweet, calm words of peace uttered by the conquering 
Nation, and saying to the conquered foe that lay prostrate 
at its feet : 'This is our only revenge, that you join us in 
lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine 
like stars forever and forever, the immortal i)rinciple3 of 
truth and justice, that all men, white or black, shall be free 
and stand equal befo)-e the law,' Then came the qnestioub 
of reconstruction, the public debt, and the ])ublic faith. 

"In the settlement of these questions the Repub- 
lican party has completed its twenty-live years of 
glorious existence, and it has sent us here to prepare it for 
another lustrum of duty and of victory. How shall we 



90 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

dii tliis givat work? AVo caiiuot do it, my fVieiids, by assail- 
ing our Republican brethren. God forbid that J .sliouhl say 
one word to cast a sliadow upon any name on tlie roll of 
our heroes. This- coming tight is our Thei-niopvla\ We 
are standing ujioii a nan-ow isthmus. It' our Spartan hosts 
are united we can withstand all the Persians that the Xer.xes. 
ot" Democracy can bring against us. 

Let us hold our ground this one year, foi- tlit> stars in 
their courses figlit for us in the future. The census t<j be 
taken this year will bring reinforcements and continued 
power. But in order to win this victory now, we want tlie 
vote ot every Tlepublican, of every Grant Republican in 
America, of every Blaine man and every anti- Blaine man. 
The vote of every follower of every candidate is needed to 
make our success certain; therefore, I say gentlemen and 
brethren, we are here to calmly counsel together, and Inquire 
what we shall do. A voice: 'Nominate Garfield.' [Gieat 
applause.] 

" We want a man whose life and opinions embody all the 
achievements of which I have spoken. We want a man 
who, standing on a mountain height, sees all the achieve- 
ments of our past history, and carries in his heart the mem- 
ory of all its glorious deeds, and who, looking lV>rward, pre- 
pares to meet the labor and the dangers to come. We want 
one who will act in no s])irit of unkindness toward those we 
lately met in battle. The Re])ublican party offers to our 
brethren of the South the olive brancli of peace, and wishes 
them to return to brothei'hood, on this sn[)reme condition 
that it shall be admitted, forever and forever more, that, in 
the war for the Fni(»n, we wei'e right and they were wrong. 
[Cheers.] On that supreme conditi«ui we meet them as 
brethren, and no other. We ask them to share with us the 
blessings and honors of this great Republic. 

"Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, I am about to pre- 



SPEECHES. 



'J I 



sent a name for your consideration — the name of a man who 
was the comrade, and associate, and friend of nearly all 
tliose noble dead whose faces look down upon us from these 
walls to-night [cheers]; a man who l)egan his career of pub- 
lic service twenty-iive years ago, whose first duty was cour- 
ageously done in the days of peril on the plains of Kansas, 
when the first red drops of that bloody shower beg-an to fall 
which finally swelled into the deluge of war. lie bravely 
stood by young Kansas then, and, returning to his duty in 
the National Legislature, through all subsec^uent time his 
pathway has been marked by labors performed in every de- 
partment of legislation. 

You ask for his monuments. I point you to twenty-five 
years of the national statutes. Not one great beneficent 
Btatute has been placed on our statute books with- 
out his intelligent and powerful aid. He aided 
these men to formulate the laws that raised our 
great armies and carried us through the ^^'ar. His hand 
was seen in the workmanship of those statutes tiiat restored 
and brought back the unity and nuirried calm of the 
States. His hand was in all that great legislation that 
created the war currency, and in a greater work that 
redeemed the promises of the government, and made the 
currency equal to gold. And when, at last called from the 
halls of legislation into a high executive ofiice, he displayed 
that experience, intelligence, firmness, and poise of 
character which has carried us through a stormy period of 
three years. With one-half the public press crying 
'Crucify him!' and a hostile Congress seeking to prevent 
success — in all this he remained unmoved until victory 
crowned him. 

The gi'eat fiscal affairs of the notion and the great 
business interests of the country he has guarded and pre- 
•erved, while executing the law ot resumption, and 



w 



STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 



clFcetiiii; its object, withuut :i jar, and against tlie false 
propliccies of one-half of the press and all the Democracy 
of this Continent, lie has shown himself able to meet 
with cahnness the great emergencies of the government tor 
twenty live years. He has trodden the perilous bights of 
public duty, and against all the shafts of malice has borne 
his breast unharmed. lie lias stood in the blaze of " tliat 
fierce light that beats against the throne," but its fiercest 
ray h;is found no flaw in liis armor, no stain on his shield. 
1 do not present him as a l>etter Republican, or as a 
better man than thousands of others we honor, but I pre- 
sent him for your deliberate consideration. I nominate 
John Sherman, of Ohio. 







THE NOMINATION. 

Comparative Statement of Ballots. 
The number of ballots cast at Chicago is by no means 
unprecedented. In 1852 General Scott was nominated on 
theiifty-third, and General Pierce on the forty-ninfli ballot. 
The ill-omened Charleston Convention in 18(^0 c<'ist lit'ty- 
Beven ineliectual ballots, and went to pieces without nomi- 
nating anybody. No Republican Convention, liowever, 
has ever cast ss many ballots as were recorded at Chicago. 
Freemontwas nominated on the first ballot, Lincoln on the 
third for his first term and on the first for his second tenn, 




^Exposition Building, in wliich was held thp National Republican Convention of 188a] 
Grant on the first for each term, Greeley on the sixth, and 
Hayes on the seventh. The first National Convention ever 
held in the United States nominated Henry Clay in 1831. 
William Wirt, Mr. Van Buren, General Harrison and Mr. 
Clay were subsequently nominated on the first ballot. Mr. 
Polk required nine, General Cass four, James Buchanan 
seventeen, and Horatio Seymour twenty-two ballots. 

At the Chicago Convention Gen. Garfield received 399 
votes on the thirty-sixth ballot. Up to the thirty-fourth, 
his highest number was two. The following tables show 
tlie essential points connected with Garfield's nomination: 



u 



STORIES AND SKEICHES OF GARFIELD. 



The Bi:eak to Garfield — TniRTY-FOURTn Ballot. 



States and Teuiii- _; 

TORIES. 



Alabuinii 

Arkansu-s 

Ciilif'oniui 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Dela\v;ire 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Intliana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Kebraska 

Nevada 

New Ilaiupshire.. . 

New Jersey 

New York 

North C;irolina... . 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island .... 

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Arizona 

Dakota 

Dist rictof Columbia. 

Idaho 

Montana 

New Mexico 

Utah 

Washington 

Wyonung 



It) 
12 



8 
24 



4 

20 

8 

7 
4 
1 

8 
29 



50 
G 



11 

17 
13 

16 
1 



12 

3 
G 

9 
10 
20 
22 

"g 

1 

4 
It 



21 
G 
4 

G 

(5 

10 

14 

18 


6 



Total ni2 



21 



2 
14 
34 



10 



16 



275 107 



11 



4 29 18 



THE NOMINATION 



9a 



TriiKTY-FiFTii Ballot. 



States and Ter- 
ritories. 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

jSlassaclui setts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. . 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina — 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West Virginia — 

Wisconsin 

Arizona 

Dakota 

District of Columbia 

Idaho 

Montana 

New Nexico 

Utah 

Washington 

Wyoming 



Totals. 



IG 
12 



8 

8 

24 

1 

4 

20 

8 

7 
4 
1 
1 
8 
29 



50 
6 



36 

11 
17 
13 

It) 
1 



313 257 



1_> 



9 

10 

2 

22 

6 

1 

4 

14 

3 

21 
G 
4 

6 

G 

10 

14 

18 

9 
6 
20 
8 
1 
4 
1 



21 



2 

2 

13 

34 



27 



10 



16 



99 



11 



23 



60 



90 



STOliI£ii AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 



TinnTY-srxTn axd Last Bat.lot— Garfield Nominated. 



States and TEKr.iTOKiKs. 



A!abuin:i 

Arkansiis 

Califuiiiia 

Ooloiailu 

(/oniiecLicut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kaii.s;is. 

Keiitiutky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

^laryland 

Mass<u;luisett3 

Miclii^^an 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevaila 

New Ilanipsliire 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina 

Ohio'= 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Khode Island 

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

'I'exas 

Vermont 

Virj^inia 

West Virjjinia 

Wisconsin 

Arizona 

Dakota. 

District of Columbia. . . 

Jdaho 

I\Iuntana 

New .Mexica 

Utah 

Wiusliin;itoii 

Wyoming 

T otal s 

*Gen. Garfield not votlnc 



20 
12 
12 

12 
() 
S 
22 
42 
."O 
22 
10 
24 
10 
14 
10 
20 
22 
10 
10 

;;o 




10 
JS 
70 
20 
4.S 

li 
58 

8 
14 
24 
10 
10 
22 
10 
20 



K) 
12 



8 

8 

24 

1 

4 
20 

8 


4 
1 

2 

7 
20 



50 
5 



37 

8 
15 

i;] 

19 
1 



oOl) 



10 
6 



42 



THE NOMINATION. 



97 



SUMMARY. 



Ballot, 


a 
O 


S 


£ 


u 


c 
£ 


£ 

o 
-a 
c 

1" 


u 


CO 

0) 

>^ 


c 

O 

m 

"E 

u 

ei 
(-« 


C3 

li-i 


tn 

<o 
H 

o 
tr. 

"> 


.-3 

o 

<4-l 
-t-> 

w 


1 


;504 
;3{)5 


284 

282 


03 
94 


30 
31 


34 
32 


10 
10 


1 










2 




3 


;w.j 


282 


93 


31 


32 


10 


1 




1 








4 


30.") 


281 


05 


31 


32 


10 


1 












5 


805 
805 


281 
280 

281 


95 
95 
94 


31 
31 
31 


32 
32 
32 


10 
10 
10 


1 
2 

2 












6 




7 




8 


80() 
308 
305 


284 
282 
282 


91 
90 
92 


32 
82 
33 


31 
31 
31 


10 
10 
10 


1 
2 

1 


1 










9 




10 




n 


305 


281 


93 


32 


31 


10 


2 


1 










1-2 


304 
305 

305 


283 
285 

285 


92 

89 
89 


33 
33 

35 


31 
31 

31 


10 
10 
10 


1 

1 


1 




1 






13 




14 




15 


;!09 


281 


88 


30 


31 


10 














16 


300 
303 
305 


283 
284 
283 


88 
90 
91 


3(i 
30 
35 


31 
31 
31 


10 
10 
10 










1 




17 




18 




19 


305 

308 
305 


279 
270 
270 


90 
93 
90 


32 
35 
35 


31 
31 
31 


10 
10 
10 


1 

1 
1 










1 


20 


1 


21 


1 


22 


305 
304 
305 


275 
275 
270 


97 
97 
93 


35 
3() 
35 


31 
31 
31 


10 
10 
10 


1 
2 
2 










1 


23 




24 




25 


302 
303 


281 

280 


94 
93 


35 
30 


31 
31 


10 
10 


2 
2 












26 




27 


300 
307 


277 
279 

278 


93 

91 

116 


30 
35 
35 


31 
31 
12 


10 
10 

7 


2 
2 
2 
















29 


305 






300 
308 


279 
270 


120 

118 


33 
37 


11 
11 


4 
3 


2 

1 












31 




32 


300 
300 
312 
313 


270 
276 
275 
257 


117 

110 

107 

99 


44 
44 
30 
23 


11 
11 
11 
11 


8 
4 
4 
3 


1 

1 

n 

5C 












38 








35 




36 


306 


42 


3 


5 






sm 


' 









» f<T()niES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Enthusiasm on Fire— Making the Nomination of Gen. Garfield Unanlmoufl 
at the Chicago Republican Convention- Speeches of Messrs. Conk- 
ling, Logan, Beaver, Hale, Pleasants, and Harrison. 

Imuieiliately after Gen. Garfield had received the 399 
votes vi the Cliicago Convention, it was the desire of the 
body to make his nomination unanimous. This was 
effected amid the greatest enthusiasm, and called forth the 
following l)rief and eloquent speeches: 

SENATOK CONKLING, OF NEW YORK. 

Mr. Chairman — James A. Garfield, of Ohio, having re- 
ceived a majority of all the votes cast, I rise to move that 
he be unanimously presented as the nominee of this Con- 
vention. The Chair, under the rules, anticipates my mo- 
tion, and being on my feet, I avail myself of the opportun- 
ity to ct>ngratulate the Itepublican party upon the good- 
natured and the well-tempered rivalry which has distin- 
guished this animated contest. Well, gentlemen, I would 
speak louder, but having sat under the cool wind of these 
windows, I feel myself unable to. I v.as in the act to say, 
Mr. Chairman, that I trust that the zeal, the fervor, and 
now the unanimity seen in the Convention will be trans- 
planted to the field of the conflict, and that all of us who 
have borne a part against each other will find ourselves 
with equal zeal bearing the banner, and with equal ze^l car- 
rying the lance of the Republican party into the ranks of 
the enemy. 

SENATOR LOGAN, OF ILLINOIS. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention — We 
are to be congratulated that we have arrived at a conclu- 
sion in reference to presenting the name of a candidate to 
become the standard-bearer of the Republiciin party for 
President of the United States. In union and harmony 
there is strengtli. Whatever may liave trans])ir(Kl in this 
Convention that may have momentiirily marred the foel- 



THE NOMINATION. 09 

ings of any one here, I hope that in our conclusion it will 
pass from our minds. I, sir, with the fciends of, I think, 
one of the grandest men that ever graced tlie face of the 
earth [a])phiuse] stood ever here to light a friendly battle in 
favor of his nomination. But, sir, the Convention has 
chosen another leader. The men who stood by Grant's 
banners will be seen in the front of this contest on every 
field. We will go forward, sir, not with tied hands, not 
with sealed lips, not with bridled tongues, but to speak the 
truth in favor of the grandest party that has ever been or- 
ganized in this country, to maintain its principles, main- 
tain its j)ower, and to preserve its ascendancy. And sir, 
with the leader you have selected, my judgment is victory 
will perch upon our banners. I, sir, as one of the repre- 
sentatives from the State of Illinois, second the nomination 
of James A. Garfield, of Ohio, and 1 hope it may be made 
unanimous. 

GEN. BEAVEK, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The State of Pennsylvania ha\'ing had the honor of first 
naming in this Convention the gentleman who has been 
nominated as the standard-bearer of the Republican party 
in the approaching national contest, I rise, sir, to second 
the motion which has been made to make that nomination 
unanimous, and to assure this Convention and the people 
of this country that Pennsylvania is heartily in accord with 
this nomination; that slie gives her full concurrence to it, 
and that this country may expect from her the best major- 
ity that has been given for a Presidential candidate in 
many years. 

MR. HALE, OF MAINE. 

Mk. President: In returning heartfelt thanks to the 
men in this convention who have aided us in the fijrht that 
we have made for the Senator from Maine, and speaking, 
as I know that I do, for them here, I say this most heartily: 



100 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

"We have not gotten the man that we came to nominate, 
but we have got a man in whom we liave the greatest and 
most perfect contidence. [Cheers.] The nominee of this 
convention is no new or untried man, and in that respect 
no dark liorse. When he came here representing his State 
in the front of that delegation, and was seen here, every 
man knew him ^before that, and because of our faith in 
him, and because we were in that emergency gUid to help 
make him the candidate of the Republicans for President 
of the United States, because of these things I stand here 
to pledge the Blaine forces of this convention to earnest 
eiibrt from now ^mtil the ides of November, that shall 
make Jaa. A. Garfield the next President of the United 
States. 

MR. W. H. PLEASANTS, OF VIRGINIA. 

Mr. Chairman: As New York, Illinois, and Maine, 
along with Pennsylvania, have spoken, I stand here 
probably occupying a peculiar (but most rightly so) posi- 
tion to that of the majority of the people of this conven- 
tion. I came here, sir, from Virginia, instructed by the 
State Convention to vote for that peculiar and most dis- 
tinguished man, the most renowned in the world, Ulysses 
S. Grant, and 1 have proved it sincere here; I have been 
Btanding upon this floor, and upon all occasions casting 
my vote to the last for that man. But, sir, as the con- 
ventit)n has thought best to nominate James A. Garfield, 
of Ohio, for President of the Unithd States, it may not be 
that we can promise you Virginia, but we can promise you 
this, as humble men, and as men who have on all occasions 
shown their devotion to the Ilepublican principles of the 
country; men who, as Virginia Ivo]»ublicans, on one 
occ'4ision, gave the electoral vote of Virginia to Ulysses S. 
Grant; and while a division exists in the Republican party 
of that State, we hope in November next to return your 



THE NOMINATION. 101 

nominee. Although it was said that we had all tp receive 
and nothing to give, we now receive James A. Garfield, 
and will endeavor to give him Virginia. I, for one — and 
I speak for this delegation, and for every Republican in 
the State — second the nomination of James A. Gai-field, 
and the motion to make the vote unanimous. 

BEN HARRISON, OF INDIANA. 

I am not in very good voice to address the convention. 
Indiana has been a little noisy within the last hour, and, 
though the Chairman of this delegation, I forgot myself 
60 much as to abuse my voice. I should not have detained 
the convention to add any word to what has been said in a 
spirit of such commendable harmony over this nomination, 
if it had not been for the over partiality of my friends 
from Kentucky, with whom we have had a good deal of 
pleasant intercourse. They insist, sirs, as I am the only 
defeated candidate for the Presidency on the floor of this 
convention, having received one vote from some misguided 
friend from Pennsylvania, who, unfortunately for me, 
didn't have staying qualities, and dropped out on the next 
ballot. I want to say to the Ohio delegation that they 
may carry to their distinguished citizen who has received 
the nomination at the hands of this convention my 
encouraging support. 1 bear him no malice at all. But, 
Mr. Chairman, I will defei- my speeches until the cam- 
paign is hot, and then, on every stump in Indiana, and 
wherever else my voice can help on this great Pepublican 
cause to victory I hope to be found. 




102 STo/ilKs A.\l> sK/':TCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Gen. Oarfleld En Route for Home After His Nomination for Presiaent- 
From Illinois to Ohio Incidents and Welcomes by the Way. 

Tlie first eiiioti/Ttis of .surprise being past, General Gar- 
field lx)re the fresh penalties of greatness with equanimity 
and ai)parently with some sense of enjoyment. From the 
moment liis nomination became assured, he was made the 
recijnont of huch exuberant and spontaneous honors as loyal 
crowds in this republic delight to bestow upon their favor- 
ites. The niusio of brass bands announced his fir^t appear- 
ance in the office (jf the hotel in Chicagt), as he came from 
his room, clad for his journey to his Ohio home. A band 
untl hundreds of people accomanied him to the depot, where 
a great civtwd had gathered to wish him God-speed to his 
home, and hence through the campaign to the White 
House. When he arrived at the depot, there was great 
•theering and waving of hats. 

General Garfield came to Cleveland in a special car, ac- 
companied by a number of intimate personal friends, 
among whom were Gov. Chai-les Foster, of Ohio; S. T. 
Everett, President of the Second National Bank of Cleve- 
land; Gen. Jame- T^arnett, an old militarj' friend of Gen. 
Garfit'ld. he ha\ ing been Chief of Artillery in the armies of 
Ilosecrans and Thonuis; Col, D G. Swaini, Judge Advocate 
of the United States Army, formerly Adjutant of the 42d 
Ohio Volunteers (Garfield's regiment); Lieutenant-Colonel 
L. A. Sheldon, Mayor W. II. Williams, and Capt. Charles 
E. Henry, all of whom were also officers of Garfield's regi- 
ment; I. F. Mack, of the Ohio Register^ Sandusky; N^. B. 
Sherwin, J. W. Tyler, and Major Eggleston, of Cleveland, 
were also with Gen. Garfield. 

Once out of the din of Chicago, (jen. G.artield and his 
friends lighted their cigars aiul passed the hours in conning 
over the stirriui; events of the i)ast week readinjr conjjratu- 
Ifttory dispatcher, and in a casual way discussing the j)oliti- 



THE NOMINATION. KXi 

cal ontlook. Gen. Gai-fiekl gave brief expression to hia 
gratificiition at the touching incidents of the last twenty- 
foUr hoin-s wliich had brought out so many evidences of the 
nnivei"sal appreciation in wliich his public services are held, 
and mentioned feelingly the handsome compliment paid 
him by the House of Representatives in Washington. 
(tOv. Foster alluded jokingly to the popular impression 
that he may be Gen. Garfield's successor in Senatorial hon- 
ors, saying that he was already filling Garfield's shoes, hav- 
ing had his own stolen at the hotel in Chicago, and been 
tjompelled to accept the loan of a pair of these needful arti- 
cles from the General. 

At Laporte, Ind., the first stopping place of any conse- 
quence, many hundreds of people, with a brass band, had 
collected to salute Gen. Garfield as he passed. Gov. Foster 
made a brief speech introducing Gen. Garfield, when there 
were deafening cheers from the multitude. Col. Sheldon 
followed, briefly telling the story of Chicago. At South 
feerid the scene was repeated, but with a larger crowd, and 
'of course louder cheering. All along the route, at the 
hamlets through which the train passed without stopping, 
and even at farm houses, people gathered and gazed and 
'cheered in one continued outburst. 

Indiana's welcome. 

At Elkhart, Ind., where the train made a stop for din- 
ner, a brass band led the way along the railroad platform 
'to the dining room, and after dinner it headed the column 
ijti its return to the cars. At Goshen hundreds of people 
were waiting with a gun mounted on a log, the first dis- 
charge from which dismounted the piece; but the crowd 
made up in enthusiasm for this mishap. 

At Ligonier the ceremonial of introduction was some- 
What varied, Gen. Garfield getting ahead and introducing 
^bV. Charlie Foster to the crowd of an unnamed water sta- 



104 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF QARFIEFD. 

tion, where :i dozen nicii uiid boys — ap])areiitly the wholo 
male popidation — had <^at!iere(l. Several of the latter 
climbed aboard the oar, iiu|iiiriii<2^ for the coining niaiL 
Gen. Garlield was pointed out, and l)owed. 

" Hallo! " shouted the delighted spokesman of tlie assem- 
blage, as the train moved away, "We'll sup])oi"t you." 

At Kendallville the ladies of the village were largely rep-- 
resented in the greeting crowd, several of them bearing 
bouquets for presentation to the man they had assembled 
to honor. At AVaterloo and Butler, the last two stopping 
places in Indiana, the scenes enacted at the stations pi-evi- 
ously passed were repeated. All along the lines crowds had 
been growing larger proportionately to the size of the 
towns, and the salutations were enthusiastic. 

IN OHIO. 

Crossintr the line into Ohio, at Edijerton the i^reetinjrs, 
of course, suffered no diminution in point of numbers or 
enthusiasm, but fewer opportunities were offered for giving 
expression to the public feeling than in Indiana. Every- 
where the people, it was re])orted, were wild with enthusi- 
asm. 

At Bryan an affecting incident occurred. Mr. William 
Letcher, an old geiitleman, a cousin of Gen. Gartield, be- 
tween whom and himself e.xist ties of tendei* friendship, 
came on the car, prepared with a brief little speech of con- 
gratulation, lie was so overcome with emotion, however, 
that he could only ejaculate, " Cousin James," and burst 
into tears. A friend r^'called the fact that Mr. Letcher had 
held Gen. Garfield when a baby in his arms at the funeral 
of his lather. 

rOXGKATUr.ATIONS. 

The following are a lew of the hundreds of congratula- 
tory telegrams received by Gen. Garfield dui-ing the day: 
Prof. Sim(;m Newcombe. thi' astroiiouKT at Washington^ 



THE NOMINATION. 105 

"Thousand congratulations on the success of the office in 
finding the man." 

J. B. Uinsniore, Captain of "The Garfield Guards, Sut- 
ton, Kebniska: " "Gen. Garfield's Guards were organized 
to-night, with forty-eight members. Great enthusiasm; 
torchlight procession and ratification meeting." 

William R. Johnson and 000 others, Ann Arbor, Mich.: 
" The students of the University of Michigan send congrat- 
ulations." 

A. S. Stratton, Mayor .of Madison, Lake county (Gen, 
Garfield's own county), Ohio: "Madison sends greetings; 
immense enthusiasm; cannon, bonfires, speeches, and 
cheers." 

Frederick AV". Pitkin, Chairman, and K. G. Cooper, Sec- 
retary, Denver, Col.: "At an enthusiastic ratification meet- 
ing of the Republicans of Denver, held this evening, the 
following resolution was unanimously adopted: 

^''Resolved, By the Republicans of Denver in mass meet- 
ing assembled, that we heartily endorse the nomination of 
James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, and we pledge 
the State of Colorado for the Chicago nominations with 
6,000 majority." 

Thomas H. Wilson, member of the General Assembly, 
Young-stown, Ohio: " youno:sto wn abhize. Your friends 
have been hoping for just such a result, although appi-eci- 
ating the delicacy of your situation. The party has hon- 
ored and saved itself." 

Eli H. Murray, an old friend of Gen. Garfield's, now 
Govei-nor of Utah: "Telegrams assure me that I was right 
in naming you President. God bless you." 



106 STORIEt^ AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Garfield's Informal Acceptanc« of the Nomination— His Sense of the Be- 

sponsibility. 

Near niidiULrlit, in Cliicatro, June 9th, ISSO, the Com- 
mittee apj)()inted by Senator Hoar to wait on Generals 
Garfield and Arthur and notify them of tlieir nomination, 
found them in the club room of the Grand Pacific Hotel, 
and Senator Hoar, as Chairman, made an appropriate 
speech. 

Gen. Gai-field replied : 

Mr. Chairman and Gkntlemen : 1 assure you that the 
information you have officially given to me brings the sense 
of very grave responsibility, and especially so in view of 
the fact that I was a member of your body, a fact that could 
not have existed with propriety had I had the slightest 
expectation that my name would be connected with t^e 
nomination for the office, I have felt with you gteat 
solicitude concerning the situation of our party during the 
struggle; but, believing that you are correct in assuring 
me that substantial unity ha> been reached in the con- 
clusion, it gives me a gratification far greater thaft 'any 
personal pleasure your announcement can bring. 

I accept the trust committed to my hands. As to the 
work of our party, and as to the character of the ca'mpaign 
to be entered upon, I will take an early occasion to reply 
more fully than I can proi)erly do to-night. 

I thank you for the assurances of confidence and esteem 
you ha\e presented t(j me, and hope we shall see our fatnre 
as promising as are indications to-night. 

Senator Hoar, in the same manner, presented the 
nomination to General Arthur, who accepted it in k brief 
and inlbrmal way. 



THE NOMINATION. 107 

Hov tlu) News of Garfield's Nomination was Received at Hiram College 
-Ringing the Old Bell. 

When the news was received at Hiram College, where 
Garfield had been a school boy, Professor and President, 
the College bell, which Garfield used to ring for his tuition, 
was wildly rung, and the people Ciiine running from every 
part of tlie little town built around the College Square, to 
gather under the old bell to clasp hands and shout their joy. 

Everybody who went to school with Garfield; every 
pnpil who remembers him as a rigid disciplinarian, but as 
tlie first and strongest on the ball ground, where he spent 
many hours with his scholars; every soldier who went to 
the wai- in the old Forty-Second, and all the j^eople of this 
little town, who have lived here in the same houses thirty 
years, when as a youth he came among them, all and each 
loved Garfield ; and as there were many representatives of 
each class, we can imagine the character of the occasion. 



Pirst Vote for Garfield in the Chicago Convention-The Man Who Gave it 

Voted for Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln Under Like 

Circumstances. 

A prominent gentleman who, in speaking of the incidents 
of the Chicago Convention, which nominatea Gen. Gar- 
field, said that the Pennsylvanian who cast the first and 
only vote which Gen, Garfield received for several ballots 
Was Caleb N. Taylor, a delegate from the Bucks District. 

This gentleman says that while in Chicago he met Mr. 
Taylor, who was well known to him, he having been a Rep- 
resentative in Congress for several terms, and a person who, 
'idiough a Quaker, always took a great interest in public 
'afi^rs, but was exceedingly deaf 

Mr. Taylor accosted this gentleman in one of the corri- 



lOS STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

dors of the Palmer House and remarked that he expected 
to cast the first vote for the man who would be notninated, 
He declined to mention his name, but added that if he 
watched his vote he would discover who this gentleman 
was. 

Mr. Tajlor then mentioned several instances in his ex- 
perience, lie stated that, in 1848, his constituents sent 
him to Ilarrisburg with instructions to vote as thej had 
directed, but against this verdict he had cfist his vote for 
Zachary Taylor, and for some time his was the only vote 
he received, and Taylor was subsequently nominated. In 
18G0 he was again seiit to the National Convention at 
Chicago, with instructions how he should vote. 

lie again disregarded these instructions and cast his first 
vote for Abraham Lincoln, who was nominated. Mr. 
Taylor, in the late Chicago Convention, as already stated, 
cast his first vote for Garfield, who was also nominated. 



What Promineiit Foreign-Born Citizens Say of the Convention-They Deolaxs 
it Positively American. 

The following opinions of intelligent foreign -bom 
citizens, respecting the Republican Convention at Cnicago, 
which nominated Gen. Garfield for President, are exceed- 
ingly interesting, and to the point: 

OPINION OF EX-LIEUT. -GOV. MU1,I,ER. 

Whoever has studied the hist<»ry of the ancients, and by 
its aid and lights has formed an idea of the imposing mag- 
nificence of the peoples' mass-meetings as they were held 
in the classic times of (Treece and the IJonum Empire for 
the purpose of listening to lectures, political and other 
matter-of-State discussions, witnessing public plays or 
gliifliatorial c<jntests, can find in the picture developed be- 



THE NOMINATION. 109 

fore my eyes in this llepublican National Convention an 
approucliiiig counterpart. 

Ten tliouBand stalwart men filled the immense and 
epleudidly-decorated hall; all seats, row upon rcw, and 
closely joined, were occupied, so that hardly a bullet could 
drop to the floor. All the different delegations from the 
thirty eight States, the eight Territories, and the District 
of Columbia, had their space and seats allotted to them, 
and the galleries were filled with the most prominent and 
talented men of the country. 

Tlie impression which this convention of sovereign 
citizens of a free land made upon the quiet observers was 
grand and imposing beyond all description. No showy 
and gold embroidered uniforms, no diamond-stars and 
decorations of any order, or other such like tinsel, as are 
graciously bestowed by monarchs and princes upon their 
devoted subjects, attracted my attention, but civic and 
democratic simplicity in the outward appearance of all 
those present greeted my eyes ! Reserve, self-reliance, and 
intelligence were beaming on the faces of all who composed 
this vast assembly, and the thought that these men could 
ever give up all their country's traditions and its free in- 
etitutions as not worthy of preservation, disappeared at once 
from my mind. 

At all events, my observations during the session of this 
Convention so far have quieted all my apprehensions that 
among the people of this country sympathies for a so-called 
Btrong or monarchical government could ever take root. 

I am convinced now that everything which has mani- 
fested itself in this direction so far emanates only from 
those classes of our population commonly designated as 
** Shoddy ites," who are represented in real life by blase 
aristocratic Bwellbeads. 



110 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF OARFIELD. 

OPINION or IIKRM.VN RASTER. 

The conduct of the delegates and spectators in the Con- 
vention was, in one word, American; with that everything 
is said. No pei-sonal altercations, no twitting, no insinua- 
tions; everywhere good cheer, pleasantness, and a disposi- 
tion to oblige predominated. But then came the outbursts 
of real or artificial enthusiasm, poured forth with such tre- 
mendous elementary strength, that would place the demo- 
niac yells of the Comanche Indians and the howlinors of the 
Zulu-Catfirs by for in the Bhade! "Whoever did not witness 
the proceedings of the Convention on the fourth day of its 
session cannot even have an approaching conception of the 
noise and wild enthusiasm which prevailed during that day 
from early morn until late at ni<rht. 

A stranger, unaware of the proceedings in the hall, 
might have been induced to believe that pandemonium had 
broken loose, or that all the lunatic asylums in the country 
had emptied their contents into the Exposition Building. 

Among the delegates, although determined in their oppo- 
sition and in the promotion of their choice's interests, 
nothing l)ut pleasantness and affability was perceptible. 
During the whole time of the six days' proceedings not a 
word was uttered which could be tortured into a dii'ect in- 
sult, and not a single serious dispute took place among 
them as well as among all this vast concourse of excited 
and enthusiastic men. In this respect the conduct of the 
Americans in their mass-meetings and gatherings cannot 
be enough praised and extolled, — more particularly so when 
we consider the behavior of the French, the Germans, 
Italians, and Poles on similar occasions. 

Any Convention of the importance and magnitude of 
that which has just adjourned in Chicago, held in France, 
would undoubtedly have caused hundreds of personal con- 
flicts and duels. Such a sudden readiness and submissive- 



THE NOMINATION. \v 

nesa to accept an unexpected result as a finality as is 
exhibited by Americans after their (Conventions we look for 
i^ vain among all other civilized nations. 



A Garfield Nomination Joke. 

An hour or so after the latest and last from the Chicago 
i^pmination, a policeman on Randolph street halted at 
the door of a saloon and asked the proprietor how he liked 
the nomination. 

" I doan' care for bolitics any more," was the reply. 

" Wliy, what's the matter ? You were greatly excited 
yesterday." 

" If I vhas den I vhas a fool. Yhen dot first pallot vhas 
daken I set up der peer for de Grant crowd, for I likes to 
Bhtand vhell mit der poys." 

« Yes." 

" Den a pig crowdt rushes in here und yells out dot Jim 
Plaine vhas de coming man, und I hand out der cigars, for 
mein poy vhants a blace in der Gustom-house oof Jim 
Plaine vhas Bresident." 

" Yes, I see." 

" Vhell, pooty soon comes mein brudder in und says I 
vhas a fool, for dot feller Sherman would git all der votes 
pooty queek. I tinks ofl:" Sherman gits it mein poy haf a 
blace in der Post-office sure, und I calls in der poys und 
dells 'em to trink to my gandidate." 

" Just so." 

" I feels goot vhen I goes to bedt, but early in der morn- 
ings some Aldermans come roundt here und says: ' Shake, 
tont pe a fool. Edmunds ish der man who vhill knock 'em 
all to pieces,' und I dells efery pody I vhfus an Edmundts, 
und I pet ten dollars he vhas voted in. Dis forenoon mein 



112 



STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 



poy vlias for Grant, meiii brndder vlias for Slierman nnd 
1 vlias for Blaine, und vliere pe dose live kegs of lager dot 
1 hadt dis morning? Vhen I goes home mein vlirow she 
Kiidt I vlias zwei fools, und I locks up der saloon und goea 
tx) bedt." 

" Well, have you heard who was nominated? " 

"J^ein." 

" It was Garfield." 

"Garfeel? Py Sheorge! I dreats avay seven kegs of 
lager und two poxes of cigars, und it vhas Garfeel! Wheel, 
dot ends me ooj). If I efer haf some more to do mit boli- 
ticks, den 1 am as grazy as bedtbugs. Garfeel! Vhell — 
vhell. Vhat a fool I vhas dot I save not mein peer und 
make a zure blace for mein poy mit Garfeel!" 




MISCELLANEOUS. 



Who Is Geueral Garfield! 

The iirst and superficial answer is, that he is the 
Republican leader in the popular branch of Congress, 
where he has served conspicuously for seventeen years, and 
tliat he is Senater elect from the State of Ohio — two 
eminent stations, which, together with the Presidential 
nomination, distinguish him by an unexampled combination 
of civic honors. Reaching behind this Congressional 
experience, he was an entliusiastic volunteer in the Union 
Army. Before his military service he was for one brief 
term a member of the Senate of Ohio. This carries him 
back to the beginning of his public career, to a time when 
28 years of age he was a school-teacher in a little village 
on the Western reserve, in the neighborhood of the hamlet 
where he was born. 

He came of a family of yeomen. When he was left an? 
orphan in the cradle by his father's death his mother- 
struggled with poverty to educate him for loftier pursuits 
than those of his ancestors, and the boy bravely seconded: 
her efforts. The slow and scanty savings of labor as a^ 
canal boatman and a carpenter provided him means for a 
liberal edication, and at the mature age of 25 he was 
graduated from a New England college in 1856, the same 

113 8. 



114 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

year in which the Republiciiii party set its first Presidential 
ticket in the field. 

This is jin honorable record — as characteristic as 
Abraham Lincoln's ot* the aspirations and opportunities of 
lite in our republic; but its recital does not touch the core 
of our question. The mere outline of a man's experience 
is not a satisfactory reply to an inquii-v what manner of 
man that experience has left him. Answering the question 
in this deeper sense, Gen. Garfield is a typical repre- 
sentative of the civilization of New England removed into 
the West, where it has grown greater and ranker than 
it fiourishes at home, as a New England wild flower might 
if transplanted from its rocky pasture into the rich soil of 
the ])rairie. 

When Sir Charles Dilke wrote a book upon America 
a few years ago he styled it the " Greater Britain." In the 
same spirit that broad reach of tlie Northwestern territory, 
which begins at the Valley of the Gennesee, and, after 
crossing the Western Reserve, spreads out into an area 
encompassing the great lakes, might well be styled the 
''Greater New England." The leaven of its first settlers 
pervades it, tempered, but not dissipated, by space and 
time, and from these settlers Gen. Garfield descended, 
bearing among his own names a Biblical patronymic, 
which, like Lincoln's, betokens his Puj'itan descent from 
a New England ancestry. 

Applying this key to his public career, the American 
peo))le can fairly interpret its past, and conjecture its 
future. It explains the alliance of Ids fortunes with the 
Republican party; the ardor with whicli he has assisted in 
the abolition of slavery, and in the distinctive political 
measures which resulted from tliat event; the courage with 
wliich he always has antagonized the "Oliio idea" of 
financial legislation; the hesitation with which he has 



MISCELLANEOUS. lir, 

•opposed liis own liberal convictions concerning economic 
■questions to the predominant opinions of his political associ- 
ates; and the scholarly tastes which have imj)ellcd him to 
serve upon Congressional committees on education and the 
•census, and as a regent of the Smithsonian Institute with 
no less zeal than he has applied himself to the husiness of 
the committees on Military Aftairs, Banking, and the (hir- 
rency and Appropriations, of all of which he has been 
successively Chairman. It defines also the respectable 
simplicity of his private life. 



Dying Words of Gen. Garfield's Father -He Leaves His Four Children in Care 

of His Wife. 

Gen. Garfield's mother, a woman of wonderful intelli- 
gence and highly endowed by nature, was wedded to a man 
of the most generous impulses and largeness of soul, and 
together they sought their fortunes in tlie woods of Orange, 
Cuyahoga County, O. 

To this couple were born four children, James Abram 
being the last. When tlie youngest son was oidy two 
years old, his father, over-worked and weary from the labor 
of saving his wheat crop froin a fire wdiich threatened its 
•destruction, sat in a draft of wind, and contracted a violent 
sore throat. A quack doctor 6f the time applied a blister, 
which caused him to choke to death. Vigorous and hearty 
in all his frame, in his dying moments he said to his 
beloved wife : 

" I hav^e planted four saplings in these woods. I must 
now leave them to your care." 

Then, taking a last look out upon his farm, and calling 
his oxen by name, he died. 



110 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Garfield's Life in Hiram Sketched by President Hinsdale, of Hiram College 
—An Interesting History. 

" Garfield's life in Hiram," says President Hinsdale, 
"may be divided into four parts: First, student period; 
second, student and teacher; third, teacher, and, fourth, 
citizen period. I was not in Iliram when Garfield came 
here, but he came in 1851. His name first appears in the 
catalogue of that year, 'James A. Garfield, Cuyahoga 
county.' It appears the same way next year, but never ap- 
pears again as the name of a student. In the catalogue of 
1853 it appears in the list of instructors as 'Teacher in the 
English Department and Ancient Languages.' He began 
to teach when he had been here about a year, and continued 
to teach, at the same time carr^'ing on his own studies, until 
he went to Williams College in 1854. Previous to going 
to Williams his name appears only once as instructor. 

Tlie student period, then, may be said to have lasted one 
year, and student and teacher period two years. He en- 
tered the junior class at Williams College in 1854, and 
graduated in 1856, dividing the highest honors with one of 
liis classmates. He returned to Hiram in the fall of 1856, 
where he had just been elected a teacher of ancient lang- 
uages and literature. He occupied this position one year, 
until, on retirement of Mr. A. S. Ilayden, he became the 
head of the institution. The school was then called the 
Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, and did not become 
Hiram College until 1865, so that Garfield was never Pres- 
ident of Iliram College, as has been stated, but was Princi- 
pal of the Institute, in active duty, from June, 1857, to Sep- 
tember, 1861. When he became the head of the institu- 
tution he was 26 years old. 

The teacher ])eriod of his life then cxjvers four years. He 
entered the army in August, 1861. taking b(xlily his classes 
in history, Latin, etc., with him into the field. At this 



MISCELLANEOUS. Ill 

time his active connection with the institution ceased; but 
80 rehictant was the Board of Trustees to part with his 
name that he continued nomiiuillj a Principal until 1864. 
In the catalogue of the two following years his name ap- 
pears as ' Advising Principal,' and first as a member of the 
Board of Trustees in 1865. 

" In the fall of 1862, at 31 years of age, he was elected to 
■Congress, but continued in the army until he took his seat 
in December of the year following. While in the army, 
he bought this house, which I now own, which is the only 
piece of property Garfield ever owned in Hiram. His 
home continued to be here until he moved to Mentor in 
1877, so that the citizen period of his life may be said to 
reach from 1863 to 1877. 

"I came to Iliram at the opening of the winter term 
of 1853-4. I arrived in the evening, and saw nobody until 
next day. That day I went with father to Mr. Hayden. 
then Principal, and in the parlor of the house I first saw 
Oarfield. 

" In stature he was what he is now, only not so well 
rounded up. His head was covered with an immen.se 
shock of tow-colored hair, which has since darkened. He 
was but 22 years old, and had a decidedly veally appeal - 
ance. George Pow, of Mahoning County came in, and th<» 
conversation turned upon a recent contest of Pow with B 
IT.Watkins on the rightfulness of Christians going to war 
Pow had affirmed this rightfulness under certain circum- 
stances, and, as I came in, young Garfield said: 'So, 
Brother Pow, you took the gunpowder side, did you?' 
These are the first words I remember to have ever heard 
Oarfield speak. 

"That winter I was a member of one of Garfield's classes 
—a class in arithmetic of 105 members, which he handled 
with admirable power. The impression which he made 



118 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

n]>(»n iiu' then is the same wliicli he made upon everybod_y 
then and al'tei-. 1 cannot describe liim better than to read 
u ])assai;e from my liistory of the Delphic Society. Gar- 
Held, I should say, was then a member of the Philomathian 
Society, and delivered before it that winter a course of 
lectures on history. But here is the passage : 

*"An old Hiram student, in a private letter, speaks of the- 
Philoniathians as ' wonderful men,' mentions those he thought 
'master spirits,' and adds: 'Then began to grow up in me an 
udjuiratiun and love for (larfield that has never abated, and the 
like of which I have never known. A bow of recognition or a 
Bingle word from him was to me an inspiration. The exact 
Iiarallel or my own experiences, Garfield, you have taught mo more 
than any other man, living or dead; and when I recall these early 
days, when I remember that James and I were not the last of the 
boys, proud as I am of your record as a soldier and a statesman, I 
c<in hardly forgive you for abandoning the academy for the field 
and the forum.' 

"When I read the above passage," continued Hinsdale, 
laying the book down, "before a brilliant audience in the 
chapel four years ago, the cheers with which it was received 
showed that it struck a chord in all hearts. 

•'My real acquaintance with (larfield did not begin until 
the fall of 1S5G, M'hen he returned from AVilliams College. 
lie then found me out, drew near to me, and entered into 
all my troubles and difficulties pertaining to (piestions ot' 
the future. In a greater or less degree this was true of his 
relations to his pupils generally. There are hundreds of 
these men and women scattered over the world to-day who 
cannot find language strong enough to e.\]>ress their feeling 
in contemplating Garfield as their old instructor, adviser 
and frieiul. Since 1856 my relations w ith liiin have been 
as close and confidential as they could be with any man. 
and much closer and more confidential than they have l)een 
with any other man. 1 think that it would be imj)Ossible 
for me to know anvbodv bcttci- than 1 know him, and 1 



I 



MISCELLANEOUti, 119 

know tliat lie possesses all the great elements of character 
in an extraordinary degree. 

" His interest in humanity has always been as broad as 
humanity itself, while his lively interest in youTig men and 
women, especially if they were struggling in uar)-ow cir- 
('iimstfmces to obtain an education, is a characteristic 
knuwn as widely over the world as the footsteps of Hi ram 
buys and girls have wandered. 

'*The help that he furnished hundreds in the way of 
suggestions, teaching, encouragement, inspiration, and 
stimulus, was most valuable. I have repeatedly said that, 
as regards myself, I am more indebted to him for all that I 
am and for what I have done in the intellectual tield than 
to any other man that ever lived. 

" His power over students was not so much tiiat of a 
drill-master or disciplinarian as tliat of one wlio was able 
to inspire and energize young people by his own intellectual 
and moral force." 



An Interesting Reminiscence of Garfield's Youth— A Letter He Wrote 23 
Years ago that Helped to Make a College President, and that 
President Now Reads it to His Students. 

President Hinsdale said, at the recent Commencement at 
Iliram (College (June, 1880), that in the fall of 1856 he left 
the Eclectic Institute, now Iliram College, in distress of 
mind growing out of his own life-questions. He had 
passed his 19th birthday, and the question of the future 
weighed heavily upon his mind. That winter he taught 
district-school. He had already won a friend in Mr. Gar- 
field, then 25 years old, and just out of Williams College. 
Garfield was then teaching in Iliram as Professor of Ancient 
Languages, in his distress of mind Hinsdale wrote Gar- 
field a letter, in which he fully opened up his mind. In' 



laO i^TORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

reply he received a letter, which gave him great help, that 
illustrated some of the points in the morning's lecture. 
This letter, Avhioh he had religiously preserved, might give 
help to some of the young men before him. Besides, there 
was peculiar propriety in his reading it, on account of what 
had taken j)lace the day hefore in the City of Chicago. He 
then i)roceedod to read from the original — yellow with age, 
and worn with repeated foldings and unfoldings — the fol- 
lowing beautiful letter: 

"lIiuAM, Jan. 15, 1^157. — Mv Dear Brother Bukke: I 
was made glad a few days since by the receipt of your 
lettei-. It was a very acceptable Xew Year's present, and I 
take great pleasure in responding. You have given a vivid 
picture of a community in which intelligence and morality 
have been neglected, and I am glad you are disseminating 
the light. Certainly men must have some knowledge in 
order to do right. God lirst said, 'Let there be light;' 
afterward he said, ' It is very good! ' 

" I am glad to hear of your success in teaching, but I 
approach with much more interest the consideration ot the 
question you have proposed. Brother mine, it is not a 
question to be discussed in the spirit of debate, but to be 
thought over and ])rayed over as a question 'out of which 
are the issues of life.' You will agree with me that every 
one must decide and direct his own course in life, and the 
only service fi"iends can aftbrd is to give us the data from 
wliich we mu.-t draw our own conclusion and decide our 
course. Allow me, then, to sit beside you and look over 
the field of lite and see what are its aspects. 

" 1 am not one of those who advise everyone to under- 
take the work of a liberal education. Indeed, I believe 
that in two-thirds of the cases such advice would be unwise. 
The great body of the people will be, and ought to be 
(intelligent), farmers and mechanics; and in many respects 



MISCELLANEOUS. l»l 

they pass the most iiidepeiideut and liappy liven. But God 
has endowed some of His children with desires and capa- 
bilities for a more extended tield of labor and influence, 
and so every life should be shaped according to ' what the 
man hath.' Now, in reference to yciurselt, I kfww you have 
capabilities for occupj'ing positions of high and important 
trust in the scenes of active life, and I am sure you will not 
call it flattery in me nor egotism in yourself to say so. 
TelJ me, Burke, do you not feel a spirit stirring within 
you that longs to A'fiow, to do, and to dare / to hold con- 
verse with the great world of thought, and hold before you 
some high and noble object to which the vigor of your 
mind and the strength of your ai-m may be given? Do you 
not have longings like these, which you breathe to no one, 
and which you feel must be heeded, or you will pass 
through life unsatisfied and regretful? I am sure you have 
them, and they will forever cling i-ound your heart till you 
obey their mandate. They are the voices of that nature, 
which God has given you, and which, when obeyed, will 
bless you and your fellow-men. 

'' Now, all this might be true, and yet it might be your 
duty not to follow that course. If your duty to your father 
or your mother demands that you take another, I shall 
rejoice to see you take that other course. The path of duty 
is where we all ought to walk, be that where it may. But 
I sincerely hope that you will not, without an earnest 
struggle, give up a course of liberal study. Suppose you 
could not begin your study again till after your majority, — 
it will not be too late then, but you will gain in many 
respects. You will have more maturity of mind to appre- 
ciate whatever yon may study. You may say you will be 
too old to begin the cource. But how could 3'ou better 
spend the earlier days of life? We should not measure life 
by the days and moments we pass on earth. 



122 STORIES AND SKETCHES OP GARFIELD. 

" 'The life is measured by the soul's advance— 
The enlargement of its powers— the expanded field 
Where it ranges, till it burns and glows 
With heavenly joy, with high and heavenly hope.' 

" It need be no discouragement that you will be obliged 
to heM' your own way and pay your own charges. You 
can go to school two terms of every year, and pay your own 
way. 

" I know this, for I did so when teachers' wages were 
much lower than they are now. It is a great truth that 
' Where there is a will, there is a way.' It may be that by- 
and-by your father would assist you. It may be that even 
now he could let you commence on your resources, so that 
you could begin immediately. Of this you know, and I 
do not. I need not tell you how glad I should be to assist 
you in your work; but, if you cannot come to Iliram while 
I am here, I shall still hope to hear that you are deter- 
mined to go on as soon as the time will permit. Will you 
not write me your thoughts on this whole subject, and tell 
me your prospects? We are having a very good time in 
the school this winter. Give my love to lioldon and 
Louisa, and believe me always your friend and brother. 

'' J. A. Garfiell, 

"P. S. — Miss Booth and Mr. Rhodes send their love to 
you. Henry James was here and made me a good visit a 
few davs ago. He and I liave talked of <joini>: to see you 
• this winter, I tear we cannot do it. How far is it from 
here? Burke, M'as it prophetic that my last word to you 
ended on the picture of the Capitol of Congress? 

-J. A. G." 

The letter was written on Congress note ])a])er, and the 
sheet was entirely tilled, so that the last few words were 
written crosswise; and, as is said l>y the (ieueral, his last 
wonl came across the littU; j>ieture at the upper left-hand 



MISCELLANEOUIS. 123- 

corner of the sheet. Wlietlier the General means to ask in 
regard to the prophetic significance in his own case, or that 
ot Hinsdale, is not known; but it certainly came true in 
Jiis own case. 



Gen. Garfield's Speech Before the Hiram College ReunioQ Association—Th? 
Commencement Day of 1660 Long to be Bemembered. 

On this ha2:)py occasion, President Hinsdale introduced 
Gen. Garfield as follows: It is with a good deal of satisfac- 
tion and pride that I now introduce to you one into whose 
face most all of you have looked hundreds of times, a fellow 
student with some of you, and a co-worker in the institu- 
tion with others, a teacher of a larger number, a man who 
lor years has been near and dear to us, and whose presence 
here to-day has lifted what otherwise would have been a 
comparatively humble though a very pleasant and enjoyable 
occasion to tlie rank and dignity of a national matter — Gen.. 
Garfield. 

Gen. Garfield arose and said : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I said that there were two 
chapters in the history of this Institute. You luive heard 
the one relating to the founders. They were all ]>ioneers 
of tliis Western Reserve, or nearly all ; they were all men 
of knowledge and great force of character; nearly all not 
men of means, but they ])lanted this little institution. In 
1850 it was a cornfield, with a solid, plain brick building in 
the centre of it, and that was all. Almost all the rest has 
been done by the institution itself. That is the second 
chapter. 

Without a dollar of endowment, without a powerful 
friend an^^where, but with a coi*ps of teachers wdio were told 
to go on to the ground and see what they could make out 



124 iSTORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

ot it, to find their own j);iy out of the little tuition that 
they could receive. They invited students of their own 
spirit to come on the ground and see what they could make 
out of it, and the response has been that many have come, 
and the cliiet part of tlie respondents I see in the faces 
around and before me to-day. It was a simple question 
of sinking: or swimminf; for themselves. And I know that 
we are all inclined to be a little clannish over our own. 
"We have, perliaps, a right to be, but I do not know of any 
place, I do not know of any institution that has accom- 
plished more with so little means as has this school on 
Hiram Hill. 

I know of no place where the doctrine of self-help has a 
fuller development, by necessity as well as finally by 
choice, as here on this hill. The doctrine of self-help and 
of force has the chief place among these men and wonien 
aronnd here. As I said a great many years ago about that, 
the act of Hiram was to throw its young men and wonien 
overboard and let them try it for themselves, and all those 
men able to get ashore got ashore, and I tliink we have few 
cases of drowning anywhere. 

Now, I look over these faces and 1 mark the several 
geological changes remarked by Mr. Atwater so well in his 
address; but in the few cases of change of geological fact 
there is, I find, no fossils. Some are dead and glorified in 
our memories, but those who are not are alive — I think all. 

The teachers and the studens of this school built it uj) in 
every sense. They made the cornfield into Hiram Campus. 
Those fine groves you see across the road they planted. I 
well remember the day when they turned out into the 
woods to find beautiful ma])les, and brought them in; 
when they raised a little purse to purchase evergreen; 
Wlien each young man, for himself one. and j)erha])S a 
second for some young lady, if he was in love, planted two 



MISCELLANEOUS. 125 

trees on the campus and then named tlieni after himself. 
There are several liere to-day who remember Bolen, Bolen 
planted there a tree, and Bolen has planted a tree that has 
a lustre — Bolen was shot through the heart at Winchester. 

There are niany here that can go and lind the tree that 
you have named after yourself. They are great, strong 
trees to-day, and your names, like your trees, are, I hope, 
growing still. 

T believe outside of or beyond the physical features 
of the place, that there was a stronger pressure of work to 
the square inch in the boilers that run this establishment 
than any other that I know of, and, as has been so well 
said, that has told all the while with these young men and 
W(jmen. The struggle, w^herever the uncouth and un- 
tutored farmer boys — a farmer, of course — that came here 
to try themselves and find what kind of people they were. 
They came here to go on a voyage of discovery. Your 
discovery was yourselves, in many cases. I hope the 
discovery was a fortune, and the friendships then formed 
<mt of that have bound this group of people longer and 
farther than most any other I have known in life. They 
are scattered all over the United States, in every field 
of activity, and if I had time to name them, the sun would 
go down before I had finished. 

I believe the rules of this institution limits us to time — 
I think it is said five minutes. I may have overgone it 
already. We have so many already that we want to hear 
from, we will all volunteer. We expect now to wrestle 
awhile with the work before us. Some of these boys 
remember the time when I had an exercise that I remem- 
ber with pleasure. I called a young lad out in a class and 
said, in two minutes you are to speak to the best of your 
ability on the following subject (naming it), and give the 
subject and let him wrestle with it. I was trying a 



126 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF UARFIEFD. 

theory, and I believe that wrestling was a good thing. I 
will not vary the pert'orniance save in this. I will call you 
and i-estrict you to five minutes, and let you select your 
theme about the old days of Iliram. 

Now, we liave a grave judge in this audience, who 
wandered away from Iliram into the Forty-Second Regi- 
ment into the South, and, after the victory, stayed there. I 
will call now, not as a volunteer man, but as a drafted man 
Fudge Clark of Mississippi. 



Garfield's First Eide on the Cars— First Visit to Columbus— First School, 
Etc.— Interesting Eeminiscences, 

it was the good fortune of the ^\Titer of this to spend the 
first two weeks of the notable campaign of 1877 with Gen. 
Garfield. It was almost evident to the best-informed poli- 
tical calculator that the Republicans must be defeated that 
year. Fate was against them, and whatever herculean 
efforts might be made could only l)e in vain. The excuse 
was this and that, but the fiict was a conglomeration of ad- 
verse circmnstances which no one could successfully con- 
tend against. 

The cani])aign was opened on a bright day in early 
autumn, under the beautiful elms and maples of that de- 
lightful old university tON\Ti of Athens. Hon. Stanley 
Matthews, recently elected United States Sena];or, Judge 
West, candidate for Governor, and Gen. Garfield, together 
with several lesser lights in the party, were present and 
made speeches. It was an occasion full of importance, and 
was carefully reported in the daily press of the entire 
■ country. 

Tlie meeting was held on Saturday afternoon, and the 
General found it necessary to remain in the town over Sun- 
day. iViter taking a stroll about the town diu-ing the fore- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 127 

noon, and reading his usual amount from some popular 
volume, the General, later in the day, in the presence of 
Capt. (;. E. Henry and myself, said: 

"Many interesting reminiscences which it is very diffi- 
cult fur me to express have run through my mind during 
the past twenty-four hours. While speaking tVom the 
stand in the college campus, yesterday, I could not refrain 
from casting my eyes up to a certain window in the main 
building which opens into a room where I spent a night, 
some twenty -five years ago, in the company of my cousin 
Ellis Ballon, who was a student here. 

'' I had come all the way fi'om our home in Cuyahoga 
■county with my mother. It had been an eventful journey 
to me. 

'' I had rode for the first time on the cars.'' 

" I had been for the first time to the capital, and l)een 
shown with my mother through the halls of the State 
House. 

" Hon. Gamaliel Kent was the Representative from 
Geauga county, and he showed us about. From there we 
come on to Athens, in the immediate vicinity of which 
town resided my mother's relatives. 

" That winter I taught my first school in a log house in 
this vicinity. 

" I dug the coal which was burned during the winter 
from the bank in the rear of the house, and worked for, I 
think, $10 per month. It was an eventful winter for me. 
I had some scholars who had been reported as somewhat 
hard, but I think that I succeeded reasonably well in keep- 
ing order." 

" Was this before or after your canal experience?" 

" It was after that, some time. I had given up all idea 
of a life on the canal at that time, but I did expect to go 
on the sea even then." 



lae STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

At this early period tlie books -nliich the young General 
mostly read were tales of the sea. These were the only 
stories that could he easily obtained. 

The General says that he most vividly remembers the 
''Pirate's Own Book," and the impression which it made 
lived with him for years. He dreamed of an impossible 
career on the ocean. 

The great statesman was a good reader at 3 years old, and 
was remarkable for the faculty which he exhibited for re- 
taining almost verbatim the contents of the volumes whicli 
he perused. It is reported by the good people of the vicin- 
ity, who were boys with the General, that he often annoyetl 
teachers of somewhat limited education by the numberless. 
questions which he asked them. 



Garfield's Extra Session Speech— Turning on tlie Light. 

General Garfield, at the extra session of Congress in 
1879, turned a flood of the fierce light of history upon the 
disgraceful record of the Democratic party, and then made 
clear that their attitude at that time in threatening to stoj) 
the supplies of the Government unless their schemes look- 
ing to the removal of the safeguards that surround the 
ballot-box were permitted was as unpatriotic and pestiferous 
as their attitude during the war. It was in the course of 
this great effort that he spoke the following words, which 
indiciite the intense patriotic earnestness and the frank fear- 
lessness of the man: 

I desire to ask the forbearance of the gentlemen on the 
other side for remarks I dislike to make, for they will bear 
witness that I have in many ways shown my desire that the 
wounds of the war should be healed, and that the grass 
that God plants over the graves of our dead may signalize 



MISCELLANEOUS. 129 

the return of tlie Spring of friendship and peace between 
all parts of the country. But I am compelled by the 
necessity of the situation to refer for a moment to a chapter 
of history. 

The last act of the Democratic domination in this house, 
eighteen years ago, was stirring and dramatic, but it wrfs 
heroic and whole-souled. Then the Democratic party said: 
" If you elect your man as President of the United States 
we will shoot your Union to death." 

And the people of this country, not willing to be 
coerced, but believing they had a right to vote for Abraham 
Lincoln if they chose, did elect him lawfully as President, 
and then your leaders, in control of the majority of the 
other wing of this Capitol, did the heroic thing of with- 
drawing from their seats, and your Representatives with- 
drew from their seats and fluug down to us the gage of 
mortal battle. "VVe called it rebellion, but we admitted 
that it was honorable, that it was courageous, and that it 
was noble to give us the fell gage of battle, and fight it out 
in the open field. 

That conflict, and what followed, we all know too well; 
and to-day, after eighteen years, the book of your domina- 
tion is opened where you turned down your leaves in 1860, 
^nd you are signalizing your return to power by reading^ 
the second chapter (not this time an heroic one) that de- 
clares that if we do not let you dash a statute out of the 
book you will not shoot the Union to death as in the first 
chapter — but staiwe it to death by refusing the necessary 
appropriations. 

You, gentlemen, have it in your power to kill it by this 
movement. You have it in your power, by withholding 
these two bills, to smite the nerve centers of our Constitu- 
tion to the stillness of death; and you have declared your 
purpose to do it if you cannot break down the elements 

9 



180 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

ot free coriBent that, up to this time, have always ruled in 
the Governraent. 

It is unnecessary to say that the sentences quoted were 
burned into the memories of the Democracy. In the light 
of Garfield's imsparing but candid arraignment they Avere 
forced to see along with the rest of the people that their 
party, according to the measure of its opportunity, was as 
much a foe to the safety and prosperity of the American 
Union as the Democracy of the war. 



Anecdote of Oen. Garfield at Morfreesboro, Illastrating a Noble Trait of His 

Character. 

The following reminiscence throws additional light on 
noble character of Garfield : 

Gareschi, Rosecrans's Chief of Staff, was killed the first 
day of the fight at Murfreesboro. A solid shot left his 
body headless. Old Rosey, as he was familiarly and affec- 
tionately called by the boys, who was at Garashee's side 
when the fatal shot took effect, glanced at the faithful 
officer's corpse, and exclaiming " poor fellow," called out : 
*' Scatter, gentlemen, scatter." 

Tlie order was obeyed by staff and orderlies with more 
than alacrity, as the enemy liad us in bhmk range of a well- 
manned battery, the shot flying thick and fast, without any 
a})parent respect of })ersons. A few days after, says 
Thomas Daughberty, who tells this story, I do not remem- 
ber how many, but it was after we had got into quarters in 
tlie town of Murfreesboro, Garfield joined us, to take the 
dead man, Gareschi's place as Chief of Staff. 

We boys thought he was a perfect success, and as an 
illustration of his kindness of lieart, a virtue not often 
j>racticed by army officers in the field, toward subordinates 
.nt least, I give you this little story : 



MISCELLANEOUS. 181 

One night, very late, tne ooys being rolled in their 
blankets on the hall floor asleep, and I at my po4, sitting 
in a chair at the Commanding General's door, awaiting 
■orders to be taken to their destination by my then sleeping 
comrades; the light but a tallow candle stuck in a sardine 
box; I, with chair tilted against the wall, had fallen asleep 
■too, when Gen. Garlield, the new Chief of Staif, emerged 
from the headc^uarter-room quickly. Kot noticing my 
extended limbs, he tripped over them and dropped to hands 
and knees on the floor. As he was no light weight, even 
then the fall was not easy. 

Afl'righted, I jumped to my feet, stood at attention, and, 
■as the General arose, saluted, expecting nothing else tlian 
to be cuffed, and probably kicked, too, from one end of the 
hall to the other. But, to my astonishment, he kindly and 
•quietly said: " Excuse me, Sergeant." I not only excused 
him, but, with all our little command, to whom the inci 
dent was told, revered him. 



"The First Garfield Club— Organized by the Studenta at Williamstown, Mass 
Every ballot at the Chicago Convention was announced 
immediately to a large and expectant crowd at Williams 
■College (Gen. Gai-field is a graduate of Williams College) 
4is fast as received. Wlien the news came that a son 
of Williams College was nominated, the crowd went wild. 
Tlie students, headed by a man carrying the American 
flaff, marched to the President's house, where Dr. Chad- 
bourn made a speech. A mass meeting was then held by 
the students in Alumni Hall, and a grand ratification 
meeting was appointed. A brass band was engaged, 
together with prominent speakers of Berksliire County. A 
Garfield Club was organized also, and a grand procession 
planned, all before 2 : 30 p. m. The College took a holiday 
in honor of the nomination, and has the honor oi organizing 
the first Garfield Club in the country. 



i:;2 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Dignity of American Citizenship-Garfleld's Eloquent Speech in Washinfrton 
After His Nomination, Delivered June 16th, 1880. 

Fellow-Citizens: While I liave looked upon this great 
array, I believe I have gotten a new idea of the majesty 
of the American people. 

When I reflect that wherever "you find the sovereign 
power, every reverent heart on earth bows before it, and 
when I remember that here, for a hundred years, we have 
denied the sovereignty of any man, and in place of it we 
have asserted the sovereignty of all in place of one, I see 
before so vast a concourse that it is easy for me to imagine 
that the rest of the American people are gathered here 
to-night; and, if they were all here, every man would stand 
uncovered and in unsandaled feet in the presence of the 
majesty of the only sovereign power in this Government 
under Almighty God ; and, therefore, to this great 
audience I pay the respectful homage that in part belongs 
to the sovereignty of the people. 

I thank you for this great and glorious demonstration. I 
Am not for one moment mislpd into believing that it refers 
to so poor a thing as any one of our number. I know it 
means your reverence to your Government, your reverence 
for its laws, your reverence for its institutions, and your 
complimeTit to one who is placed for a moment in relations 
to you of peculiar importance. For all these reasons I 
thank you. 

I cannot at this time utter a word on the subject of 
general politics. I would not mar the cordiality of this 
welcome, to M'hich to some extent all are gathered, by any 
rcfer-encc except to the present moment and its significance. 

Ihit I wish to say that a large ])ortion of this assemblage 
to-niirht are mv comrades in the late war for the Union. 
For them I can speak with entire ])ro])nety, and can say 
that these very streets heard the measured tread of your 



MISCELLANEOUS. 188 

disciplined feet years ago, when tlie imperiled Republic 
needed your liaiids and your hearts to save it, and you came 
back with 3n)ur numbers decimated, but those you left 
behind were immortal and glorified heroes forever, and 
those you brouglit l)ack came carrying under tattered ban- 
ners and in bronzed hands the ark of the covenant of youx 
Republic in safety out of the bloody baptism of the war, 
and you brought it in safety to be saved forever by your 
valor and the wisdom of your brethren who were at home, 
tmd by this you were again added to the civil army of the 
Republic. 

1 greet you, comrades and fellow-soldiers, and the great 
body of distinguished citizens who are gathered here 
to-night, wh(j are the strong stay and support of business, 
ot prosperity, of peace, of civic order, and the glory of the 
Republic, and I thank you for your welcome to-night. It 
was said in a welcome to one who came to England to be a 
part of her glory, and all the nation spoke when it said: 

Normans, and Saxons, and Danes are we, 
But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee. 

And we say to-night of all the nations, of all the people, 

soldiers and civilians, there is one name that welds us all 

into one. It is the name of an American under the Union 

and under the glory of the flag that leads us to victory and 

to peace. 



" The Member from New York." 

Gen. Garfield in his school days used to take the part of 
"the member from New York" in the miniature House of 
Con-irress which his elocution class had formed itself into. 
lie is said to have enjoyed this exceedingly, and his orator/ 
excelled that of all the others. 



184 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF QARFIEFD. 

The Canal Story as Told by the Man Who Employed Young Garfield to Driye> 
on the Tow Path. 

The gentleman who employed young Garfield to drive on 
the " Tow path " is still living, and resides in Jersey City.. 
His name is Jonathan Myers. He gives the following full 
account of "Jim Garfield's" canal labors: 

" He was a driver for me on the Ohio Canal. I have; 
watched his career ever since he left me, and have felt very- 
much interested in him, and gratified to see what he has. 
achieved. 

The first time he ran for the Legislature of Ohio he wa& 
in my district, and I voted for him. After that I moved 
East, and that is the only time I ever voted for him. When 
he left me he did not 'boat' any more. 

It is a mistake about his ever having been a steersman. 
He was not large enough for a steersman. When he waa 
in my employ he was not more than 13 years of age. 

1 remember when he applied to me for a job on mj 
boat. He was a stout, healthy boy, and his frank, open 
cxjuntenance impressed me so much that I at once employed 
him. He was always full of fun, and exceedingly good 
natured. I never saw him mad. He was with me about 
three months. 

He was always very attentive to his business. He was 
also a great boy to read. If he was not busy he was always 
reading. I scarcely ever saw him idle. One day, as we- 
were going up the canal, he came to me and said he would 
like to get a place where he could work and attend school. 
I knew of a doctor by the name of Kobinson who lived 
near me, who was in need of a boy to attend his horse and 
do chores about his place. I told " Jim " he had better go 
np and see the Doctor, and if he had not got a boy he had 
better get the place. I disliked to part with him, but 
I saw he was too intelligent a lad to be di'iving a canal-boat. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 185 

He went up, and the Doctor ' froze ' to liim at once. The 
Doctor was what you might call a minister, lie was a 
Campbellite, and a very good man indeed. 

During the first winter "Jim" was with the Doctor he 
got converted, and after he got converted they " froze " to 
him tighter than ever. "VVlien spring came, " Jim " wanted 
to get some work to enable him to buy some clothes, and 
he spoke to the Doctor about it. The Doctor told him he 
must not leave school — that he must go through now. 
" Jim " said : 

" Doctor, but I haven't got any money." The Doctor 
told him that was all right — that he would stand behind 
him. 

I remember that he was a very poor boy, and 
that I was very favorably impressed with him. These 
canal boys were generally a shiftless lot of fellows, and it 
was hard work to get a good boy. Our boats were different 
then from what they are now. We used to have tlicm 
fitted up nicely to carry passengers as well as freight. My 
wife used to be on the boat with me, and she thought a 
good deal of " Jim." 

The great difiiculty we had with the drivers on our boats 
was that they would lie, but if you got anything from 
"Jim" you could always rely on it, I never cauglit him 
in a lie while he was witli me. He was getting $10 a 
month and his board, and that was considered very big 
wages. He was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, O. Ho 
came to me as any other boy to hire out. 



The Turning Point in Gariieli's Life, and How It Happened. 

The following anecdote concerning Garfield's early life 
shows a critical period of the boy's experience: 

Garfield was then a green, awkward boy of 10, and was 



186 STOlilES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

revolving in lii.s mind the feasibility of taking a course of 
liberal stud\'. He knew that Dr. Robinson was in town, 
and had seen him at his mother's house, and had confidence 
in his judgment. He called around, therefore, at the 
President's house, and asked for Dr. Robinson. The Doctor 
was at his dinner, but soon finished, and came out to see 
what his young friend wanted. 

" I want to see 3'ou alone," said Garfield. 

""WJio are you?" asked the gruff but kind-hearted 
Doctor. 

" My name is James Garfield, from Solon," replied the 
latter. 

"Oh! I know your mother, and knew you when you 
were a babe in arms; but you had outgrown my knowledge. 
I am glad to see you." 

The young man led the way toward a secluded spot on 
the south side of Hiram Hill; and, as they proceeded, the 
Doctor took a good look at his companion. He was a 
young man quite shabbily dressed, with coarse satinet 
pantaloons, which were far outgroNvn, and did not reach 
more than half-way down his cowhide boot-tops. His vest 
<iid not meet the waistband of his pants, and his arms 
reached far out through the sleeves of his coat. Plis head 
was clothed with a coarse wool hat, which had also seen 
ranch wear, and slouched upon his head. 

" He was wonderfully awkward," said the good Doctor 
(who tells this story), " and had a sort of independent, go-as- 
you-please gait. At length we reached a spot that was 
•covered with papaw bushes, and we took a seat on a log. 
After a little hesitation the young man said: 

" You are a physician, and know the fibre that is in men. 
Examine me and tell me with the utmost frankness whether 
I had l^etter take a course of liberal study. I am con- 
templating doing so. Aly desire is in that direction. But, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 137 

if I am to mjike a iailure ot"it, or practically so, I do not 
•desire to begin. If yon advise me not to do so, I shall feel 
•content." 

" I felt that I was on my sacred honor, and the young 
man looked as though he felt himself on trial. I had had 
considerable experience as a physician, but here was a case 
much different from any other I had ever had. I felt it 
must be handled with great care. 

I examined his head, and saw that there was a mag- 
nificent brain there. I sounded his lungs, and found that 
they were strong and capable of making good blood. I 
felt his pulse, and saw that there was an engine capable of 
sending the blood up to the head to feed the brain. I had 
seen many strong physical systems, with warm feet, but 
■cold, sluggish brain; and those who possessed such systems 
would simply sit around and doze. Therefore I was 
anxious to know about the kind of an engine to run that 
delicate machine, the brain. At the end of a filteen- 
minutes' careful examination of this kind, we rose, and I 
said: 'Go on, follow the leadings of your ambition, and 
ever after I am your friend. You have the brain of a 
"Webster, and you have the .physical proportions that will 
back you in the most herculean efforts. All you need to 
•do is to work. "Work hard — do not be afraid of over- 
working — and you will make your mark.' " 

The Doctor and the General visited the spot made thus 
€acred as the witness of the turning point in Garfield's 
life, on the day of the recent Hiram commencement. 

" I invited the General to come to my house in Bedford, 
in order that I might talk the matter over more fully with 
him ; and in a short time he did so. The General has often 
told me that the conversation gave him confidence in him- 
iSelf, which he had never had before, and he went on with 
liis course, and, as is already known, won for himself the 
highest honors of his class, and of the Avorld at large. 



138 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Th« Methods and Habits of Garfield While a Teacher— How He Played With 
the Boys, Shook Hands, Lectured. Etc. 

The Rev. J. L. Darsie, of Danbury, Conn., was one of 
Garfield's pupils in his school days. He thus describes the 
habits and methods of Professor Garfield: 

" I attended school at the Western Reserve Eclectic In- 
stitute when Garfield was Principal, and I recall vividly 
Gen. Garfield's method of teaching. 

" lie took very kindly to me, and assisted me in various- 
ways, because I was poor and was janitor of the buildings,, 
and swept them out in the morning and built the fires, as 
he had done only six years before, when he was a pupil at 
the same school. 

He was full of animal spirits, and he used to run out on 
the green almost every day and play cricket with us. He 
was a tall, strong man, but dreadfully awkward. Every 
now and then he would get a hit on the nose, and he mufl:ed 
his ball and lost his hat as a regular thing. 

He was left-handed, too, and that made him seem all the 
clumsier. But he was most powerful and very quick, and 
it was easy for us to understand how it was that he had ac- 
quired the reputation of whipping all the other mule driv- 
ers on the canal, and of making himself the hero of that, 
thoroughfare when he followed its tow-path ten years 
earlier. 

No matter how old the pupils were, Garfield always 
called us by our first names, and kept himself on the most 
familiar terms with all. He played with us freely, scuffled 
with us sometimes, walked with us in walking too and fro, 
and we treated him out of the class room just about as we- 
did one another. Yet he was a most strict disciplinarian, 
and enforced the rules like a martinet. 

He combined an affectionate and confiding manner with 
a respect fur order in a most successful manner. If h& 
wanted to speak to a puj)il, either for reproof or approba- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 139- 

tion, he would generally manage to get one arm around 
him and draw him up close to him. • 

lie had a peculiar way of shaking hands, too, giving a. 
twist to your arm and drawing you right up to him. This 
sympathetic manner has helped him to advancement. 
When I was a janitor he used sometimes to stop me and 
ask my opinion about this and that, as if seriously advising 
with me. I can see now that my opinion could not have 
been of any value, and that he probably asked me partly to 
increase my self-respect, and partly to show me that he felt 
an interest in me. I certainly was his friend all the firmer 
for it. 

I remember once asking him what was the best way to- 
pursue a certain study, and he said: 

"Use several text-books. Get the views of diiferent- 
authors as you advance. In that way you can plow a 
broader furrow. I always study in that way," He tried 
hard to teach us to observe carefully and accurately. He 
broke out one day with: 

" Henry, how many posts are there under the building 
downstairs?" Heniy expressed his opinion, and the ques- 
tion went around the class, hardly one getting it right.. 

He was the keenest observer I ever saw. I think he no- 
ticed and numbered every button on our coats. 

A friend of mine was walking with him through Cleve- 
land one day when Garfield stopped and darted down a 
cellarway, asking his companion to follow, and briefly 
pausing to explain himself. The sign " Saws and Files " 
was over the door, and in the depths was heard a regular 
clicking sound. 

" I think this fellow is cutting files," said he, " and I 
have never seen a file cut." Down they went, and, sure 
enough, there was a man recutting an old file, and they 
stayed ten minutes and found out all about the process- 



140 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF QARFTELB. 

The Way Garfield Got His Military Education-Using Poles, Blocks, and 
, Grains of Coffee for Drill Pnrposes. 

It is a well-known fact that Gen. G-arfield never had any 
military education previous to his taking command of the 
Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. But 
the thorough disposition which he had cultivated, both as 
fitudent and teacher, was with him here. 

He purchased at the first opportunity a copy of some 
book on military tactics, and immediately inaugurated an 
entirely original method of learning the movements of 
bodies of men. 

He prepared a large number of blocks, each representing 
columns of soldiers, and then went through w4th all the 
various movements described in the books, often working 
at the various problems until nearly morning. 

When he had quite well mastered the rudiments in this 
way, he began to drill his officers by means of skeleton 
companies, as he called them. He had prepared long poles, 
and, giving the ends of these into the hands of the men 
who were being instructed, the marches, counter-marches 
and various parades would be gone through w^ith wonderful 
accuracy and dispatch. 

" I have carried poles in this way many times," said 
Capt. C. E. Henry, one of his old officers, " and, if I do say 
60, we learned the movements as fast as the men of any 
other regiment, even though the others might have been 
presided over by West Point officers. 

" Finally, he mislaid his blocks, and adopted grains of 
•coffee, or corn, and still carried on his military maneuvers. 

" I have heard West Point officers say that he wtis as 
thorough as any officer they ever saw in his knowledge of 
the common principles of military affairs. I never knew 
him to make a mistake in giving an order, or to hesitate in 
giving it." 



AflSCELLANEOUa. 141 

The General TaWnj His Stand on Fugitive Slaves— A Story of the "War. 

A member of Gen, Sherman's staiFis anthoritj for the 
folloAving incident, which is related as nearly as possible in 
his words: 

" One day I noticed a fugitive slave come mshing into- 
camp with a bloody head, and apparently frightened almost 
to death. lie had only passed my tent a moment when a 
regnlar bnlly of a fellow came riding np, and, with a volley 
of oaths, began to ask after his ' nigger.' 

" Gen. Garfield was not present, and he passed on to the 
division-commander. This division-commander was a sym- 
pathizer with the theory that fugitives should be returned 
to their masters, and that the Union soldiers should be 
made the instruments for returning them. He accordingly 
wrote a mandatory order to Gen. Garfield, in whose com., 
mand the darky was supposed to be hiding, telling him to 
hunt out and deliver over the property of the outraged 
citizen. 

" I stated the case as fully as I could to Gen. Garfield 
before handing him the order, but did not color ray state- 
ment in any way. He took the order, and deliberately 
wrote on it the following indorsement: 

" ' I respectfully, but positively, decline to allow my 
command to search for, or deliver up, any fugitive slaves. 
I conceive that they are here for quite another purpose. 
The command is open, and no obstacles will be placed in 
the way of the search.' 

" I read the indorsement, and was frightened. I erpected 
that, if returned, the result would be that the General would 
be court-martialed. I told him my fears. He simply 
replied : 

" 'The matter may as well be tested first as last. Right 
is right, and I do not propose to mince matters at all. My 
soldiers are here for far other purposes than hunting and 
returning fugitive slaves." 



142 STonj/Cs Ayp SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

Garfield's Letter Accepting the Republican Nomination for President. 

Gen. Gnrfield forwarded to Senator lloar, of Massachu- 
setts, Chairman of Coniniittee, the following letter of ac- 
ceptance of the nomination tendered him by the Republican 
Nati'unal Convention: 

" Mkntor, O., July 10, 1880. — Dear Sir: On the even- 
ini); of the 8th of June last, 1 had the honor to receive from 
jou, in the presence of the Committee of which you were 
Chairman, the official announcement that the Kepublican 
National Convention at Chicago had that day nominated 
me as their candidate for the President of the United 
States. I accept the nomination with g-ratitude for the 
confidence it implies, and with a deep sense of the respon- 
sibilities it imposes. I cordially indorse the principles set 
forth in the platform adopted by the Convention. On 
nearly all the subjects of which it treated my opinions are 
on record among the published proceedings of Congress. 

1 venture, however, to make special mention of some of 
the principal topics which are likely to become subjects of 
discussion, without reviewing the controversies whicii have 
been settled during the last twenty years, and with no pur- 
pose or wish to revive the passions of the late war, 

STATE SUPREMACY. 

It should be said that, while the Republicans fully 
recognize and will strenuously defend all the rights retained 
by the people, and all the rights reserved to the Sbites, thej 
regret the pernicious doctrine of State suprenuicy, which so 
long crippled the functions of the national government, and 
at one time brought the Union very near to destruction. 
They insist that the United States is a nation, with ample 
powers of self-preservation; that its Constitution and the 
laws made in pursuance thereof "are the supreme law of 
the land;" that the right of the nation to determine the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 143 

atiethod by which the Legislature shall be created cannot be 
surrendered without abdicating one of the fun(hiuiental 
powers of government; that the national laws relating to 
the election of Representatives in Congress shall neither be 
violated nor evaded; that every elector shall be permitted 
freely, and without intimidation, to cast his lawful vote at 
snch election, and have it honestly counted; and that the 
potency of his vote shall not be destroyed by the fraudu- 
lent vote ot any other person. 

NATIONAL WELL-BEING. 

Tlie best thoughts and energies of our people should be 
directed to those great questions ot national well-being, in 
which all have a common interest. Such efforts will soonest 
restore to perfect peace those who were lately in arms 
Against each other; for justice and good-will will outlast 
passion. But it is certain the wounds of the war cannot be 
completely healed, and the spirit ot brotherhood cannot 
pervade the whole country, until every citizen — rich or 
poor, white or black — is secure in the free and equal en- 
joyment ot every civil and political right guaranteed by the 
constitution and the laws. Wherever the enjoyment of 
these rights is not assured discontent will prevail, immi- 
gration will cease, and the social and industrial forces will 
continue to be disturbed by the migration of the laborers 
and the consequent diminution of prosperity. The na- 
tional government should exercise all its constitutional 
-authority to put an end to these evils ; for all the people and 
all the States are members of one body, and no member 
can sutler without injury to all. 

The most serious evils which now afflict the South arise 
from the fact that there is not such freedom and toleration 
of political opinion and action that the minority party can 
€xercise an effective and wholesome restraint upon the 
party in power. "Without such restraint a party rule be- 



144 /STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

comes tynuiiiical and corrupt. The ])rosperity which is 
made possible in the South by its great advantages of soil 
and climate will never be realized until every voter can 
freely and safely support any party he pleases. 

POPULAR EDUCATION. 

And next in importance to freedom and justice is popular 
education without which neither justice nor freedom can be 
permanently maintained. Its interests are intrusted to the 
States and to the voluntary action of the people. 

Whatever help the nation can justly offer should be gen- 
erously given to aid the States in supporting common 
schools ; but it would be unj ust to our people and dangerous 
to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenues of 
the nation or of the States to the support of sectarian 
schools. The separation of the Church and the State, in 
everything relating to taxation, should be absolute. 

NATIONAL FINANCES. 

On the subject of national finances, my views have been 
so fre(|uently and fully expressed that little is needed in the 
way of additional statement. The public debt is now so 
well secured, and the rate of annual interest has been so 
reduced by refunding, that rigid economy in expenditures 
and the faithful apjilication of our surplus revenues to the 
payment of the principal of the debt will gradually, but 
certainly, free the people from its burdens and close wath 
honor the financial cha])ter of the war. At the same time 
the government can provide for all its ordinary expendi- 
tures, and discharge its sacred obligations to the soldiers of 
the Union and to the widows and orphans of those who fell 
in its defense. 

The resumption of specie payments, which the Re^ubli- 
C!an ])arty so courageously and successfully accomplished, 
has removed from the field of controversy numy questions 
that long and seriously disturbed the credit of the govern- 



M ISC ELLA NEO US. 145 

raent and the business of tlic country. Our pa])ercnrrency 
is now as national as the flag, and resumption lias not only 
rnilde it everywhere equal to coin, but has brought into use 
our store of gold and silver. The circulating medium is 
no'sV' more abundant than ever before, and we need ordy to 
maintain the equality of all our dollars to insure to labor 
and capital a measure of value from the use of which no 
one can suffer loss. The great prosperity which the country 
is now enjoying should not be endangered by any violent 
changes or doubtful financial experiments. 

CUSTOMS LAWS. 

In reference to our custom laws, a policy should be pur- 
sued which will bring revenue to the Treasury and will 
enable tiie labor and capital employed in our great industries 
to compete fairly in our own markets with tiie labor and 
capital of foreign producers. "VVe legislate for the people 
of the United States, not for the whole world, and it is our 
glory that tlie American laborer is more intelligent and 
better paid than his foreign competitor. Our country can- 
not be independent unless its people, with their abundant 
natural resources, possess the requisite skill at any time to 
clothe, arm, and equip themselves for war, and in time of 
peace to produce all the necessary implements of labor. 
It was the manifest intention of the founders of the gov- 
ernment to provide for the common defense, not by stand- 
ing armies alone, but by raising among the people a greater 
army of artisans, whose intelligence and skill should 
powerfully contribute to the safety and glory of the nation. 

Fortunately for the interests of commerce, there is no 
longer any formidable opposition to appropriations for the 
improvement of our harbors and great navigable rivers, 
provided that the expenditures for that purpose are strictly 
limited to works of national importance. 

Tho Missip=i]-i]u River, with its great tribu'a: ies, is of 
10 



148 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

sucli vital importance to so many inilli(Jii'=; of people, that 
the safety of its luivigatiou requires exceptioiuil considera- 
tion. In order to secure to the nation the control of all its 
waters, President Jefferson negotiated the purchase of a 
vast territory, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
Pacific Ocean. The wisdom of Congress should bo invoked 
to devise some plan by which that great river shall cease to 
be a terror to those who dwell upon its banks, and by which 
its shipping may safely carry the industrial products of 
25,000,000 of people. The interests of agriculture, which 
is the basis of all our material prosperity, and in which 
seven-twelfths of our population are engaged, as well as the 
interests of manufacturers and commerce, demand that the 
facilities for cheap transportation shall be increased by the 
use of all our great water-courses. 

THK CHINESE QUESTION. 

The material interests of this country, the traditions of 
its settlement, and the sentiments of our people have led 
the Government to olfer the widest hospitality to immigrants 
who seek our shores tor new and happier homes, willing to 
phare the burdens as well as the benefits of our society, and 
intending that their postwity shall become an undistin- 
guishable part of our population. The recent movement of 
the Chinese to our Pacific coast, partakes but little of the 
qualities of such an immigration, either in its purposes or its 
result. It is too much like an importation to be welcomed 
without restriction; too much like an invasion to be looked 
upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any 
form of servile labor to be inti'oduced among ns under the 
guise of immigration. Recognizing the gravity of this 
subject, the present Administration, supported by Congress, 
has sent to China a commission of distinguished citizens 
for the purpose of securing sucJi a nuHlIfication of the exists 
ing treaty as will prevent the evils likely to arise from the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 147 

present situation. It is confidently believed that these dip- 
lomatic negotiations will he huccesstiil, without the loss ot 
commercial intercourse between the two powers, which 
promises a great increase oi' reciprocal trade and the en- 
largement of our mark(>ts. Should thes«; eflorts fail, it will 
be the duty of Congress to mitigate the evils already felt, 
and prevent their increase by such restrictions as, without 
violence or injustice, will place upon a sure foundation the 
pteace of our communities, and the freedom and dignitv of 
labor. 

THE CIVIL SERVICE. 

Tlie appointment of citizens to the various executive and 
judicial of^ces of the Government is perhaps the most diffi- 
cult of all the duties which the Constitution has imposed 
upon the Executive. The Constitution wisely demands 
that Congress shall co-operate with the executive depart- 
ments in placing the civil service on a better basis. Ex- 
perience has proved that with our frequent changes of 
administration, no system of reform can be made effective 
and permanent without the aid of legislation. Appoint- 
ments to the military and naval service are so regulated by 
law and custom as to leave but little ground of complaint. 
It may not be Mnsc to make similar regulations by law for 
the civil service; but, without invadi^ng the authority or 
necessary discretion of the Executive, Congress should de- 
vise a method that will determine the tenure of office and 
greatly reduce the uncertainty which makes that service so 
uncertain and unsatisfactory. Without depriving any offi- 
cer of his rights as a citizen, the Government should require 
him to discharge all his official duties with iiitellio-enee 
efficiency and faithfulness. To select wiselv from ou? vast 
population those who are best fitted for the niany offices to 
be filled, requires an acquaintance far beyond the rano-e of 
any one man. The Executive should therefore seel^and 



143 STORIES AND SKETCHES OF GARFIELD. 

receive tlie iiitunnatiuii and assistance of tliose whose 
kiuiwiedge of the ooininunities in which the duties are to be 
pcrfoi-nied best qnalifies them to aid them in making the 
wisest choice. 

THE PLATFORM. 

The doctrines announced hy the Chicago convention are 
not the temporary devices of a party to attract votes and 
carry an election; they are deliberate convictions resulting 
from a careful study of the spirit of our institutions, the 
events of our history, and the best impulses of our people. 
In my judgment, these principles should control the legis- 
lation and administration of the Government. In any 
event, 'they will guide my conduct until experience points 
a better way. If elected, it will be my purpose to enforce 
strict obedience to the Constitution and the laws, and to 
promote, as best I may, the interest and honor of the whole 
country, relying for support upon the wisdom of Congress, 
the intelligence of the ])eople, and the lavor of God, With 
great respect, I am, very truly yours, 

James A. Garfield. 
To the Hon. George F. Hoar, Chairman of Committee. 



.1. 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
A Sketch of the Life of the Bepublican Candidate for Vioe-President. 

Chester Allan Arthur is a native of Vermont, having 
.been bom at Fairtield, Franklin County, October 15th, 
11830. 

He was the oldest son of the liev. William A.rthur, D. D., 
a Baptist clergyman, and his mother's maiden name was 
Malvina Stone. His father was a native of the north of 
Ireland, and a graduate of the College of Belfast. He 
was a noted scholar and author of several books on 
philology. 

The subject of this sketch was fitted for college mainly 
under his father's instructions, but also studied at Green- 
wich, Washington County, iS". Y. He entered Union 
College, and graduated therefrom at the age of eighteen 
with high honors. He began the study of law soon after 
leaving college, in the olKce of the Hon. E. D. Culver, a 
fonner member of Congress from Pennsylvania., who was 
prominent in the anti-slavery struggles of thirty years ago. 
C4en. Arthur was udmitti'd to the Bar in 1853, and began 
practice in iS'ew York. 

Ajb a young man he early took great interest in political 

150 



A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY. 151 

matters, uiul ])ore an active part in the Free-Soil agitation, 
lie waa a delegate from King's County (Brooklyn) to tlie 
first Eepnblican State Convention held in New York, and 
gained considerable reputation from his connection with the 
litigation growing out of slavery and the rights of colored 
citizens. 

lie was attorney in the celebrated Lemon slave case, in 
which William M. Evarts acted as counsel, with Charles 
CVConor as op[)osing counsel for the slaveholder, Jonathan 
Ijcmon, of Virginia, who, on his way to Texas, brought 
slaves with him into New York. This case, involving 
f-ome of the most important principles of personal liberties 
:ind tlie comities of the States, was in the courts for many 
yeais, and was finally decided by the Court of Appeals 
agsiinst the slaveholder. Gen. Arthur prepared all the 
papers in the case and sued out the writ of habeas corpus 
by which the case got into court. He was also attorney in 
the ca^e involving the right of the black man to ride in the 
eai's, in which he was also successful in the Court of las t 
resort. 

He continued in the practice of his profession with good 
8Ti«ces8 until the breaking out of the war. During Gov. 
Morgan's administration he was for the first two years of 
the war Inspector and Quartermaster-General of New 
York. In this position he displayed remarkable organiz- 
ing capacity in placing the New York troops in the field, 
and gained a high reputation as an oflicer. 

Upon Seymour's election as Governor, Gen. Arthur re- 
turned to his practice, in which he continued until his ap- 
pointment as Collector of tlie port of New York, in Novem- 
ber, 1871. This appointment came to him unsolicited, and 
was an entire surprise. He discharged the duties of the 
place with signal ability, and to the entire acceptance of 
the commercial public. Business men of all parties peti- 



152 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

tioiied for liis retention in office, and he was reappointed in 
1875, liolding the poBition nntil his rcnioval by President 
Ilajes under circmnstances uith which the pnblic is 
familiar. 

He is a portly, middle-aged gentleman, with gray liaira 
and pleasant features, social and amiable, fond of a good 
dinner, and at home is agreeable company; quite frequently 
seen on public occasions in Kew York, and very active, but 
never obtrusive; altogether a public-spirited citizen and 
typical New York business man; rather slow of speech, but 
good in substance, and is one of Gen. Grant's intimate 
friends and admirers. 

Mr. Arthur is now engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion. He has two childi-en — a son of 14 and a daughter of 
8 years of age. He had the misfortune to lose his devoted 
wife last January, whose death was sudden and unexpected. 
Mrs. Arthur was a daughter of the late Capt. Herndon, of 
the United States Navy, the intrepid explorer of the river 
Amazon, who was lost at sea -while in connnandof the 
steamship Central America on her trip between Havana 
and New York in 1857. 




MFSCELLANEOUS. 153 

Gen. Arthur's Letter of Acceptance. 

Gen Arthur forwarded to Senator Hoar, Chahnian of the 
Committee, the following letter of acceptance: 

Dear Sir: I accept the position assigned me by the 
great party whose action you announce. This acceptance 
implies an approval of the principles declared by the Con- 
vention, but recent usage permits me to add some expres- 
sion of my own views. The right and duty to secure 
honesty and order in popular elections is a matter so vital 
that it must stand in the front. The authority of the Na- 
tional Government to preserve from fraud and force elec- 
tions, at which its own officers are chosen, is a chief point 
on which the two parties are plainly and intensely opposed. 
Acts of Congress for ten years have in New York and else- 
where done much to curb the violence and wrong to which 
the ballot and count have been again and again subjected, 
sometimes despoiling great cities, sometimes stifling the 
voice of a whole State, often placing not only in Congress, 
but on the Bench and in Legislatures, numbers of men never 
chosen by the people. 

The Democratic party, since gaining possession of the two 
Houses of Congress, has made these laws the object of bit- 
ter, ceaseless assault, and despite all resistance has hedged 
them with restrictions cunningly contrived to baffle and 
paralyze them. This aggressive majority boldly attempted 
to extort from the Executive his approval of various enact- 
ments destructive of these election laws by revolutionary 
threats that a constitutional exercise of the veto ])Ower 
would be punished by withholding appropriations necessarj-^ 
to carry on the Government, and these threats were actually 
carried out by refusing needed appropriations and by forc^ 
ing an extra session of Congress, lasting for months and. 
resulting in concessions to this usurping demand, which are 



154 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

likely in many States to subject the majijrity to the lawless 
will of a minority. Ominous signs of a public disapproval 
alone subdued this arrogant power into a sullen surrender 
for the time being of a part of its demands. 

The Republican j^arty has strongly approved the stem 
refusal of its repi-esentatives to suffer the overthrow of 
statutes believed to be salutary and just. It has always 
insisted, and now insists, that the Government of the 
United States of America is empowered and in duty bound 
to effectually ])i-otect the elections denoted by the Constitu- 
tion as National, More than this, the Republican party 
holds as the cardinal point in its creed that the Govern- 
ment should by every means known to the Constitution 
protect all American citizent everywhere in the full enjoy- 
ment of their civil and political rights. As a great part of 
its work of reconstruction, the Republican party gave the 
ballot to the emancipated slave as his right and defense. A 
large increase in the number of members of Congress and 
of the Electoral College from former slave-holding States 
was the immediate result. 

The history of recent years abounds in evidence that in 
many ways and in many places, especially where their 
number has been great enough to endanger Democratic 
control, the very men by whose citizenship this increase of 
representation was effected have been deban-ed and robbed 
of their voice and their vote. It is true that no State 
statute or Constitution in so many words denies or abridges 
the exercise of their jwlitical rights, but bodies employed 
to bar their way arc no less effectual. 

It is a suggestive and startling thought that the increased 
power derived from the enfranchisement of a race now 
denied its share in governing the country, wielded by those 
who lately sought the overthrow of the Government, is now 
tile .sole reliance to defeat the party which ivj)ivsented the 

\ 



MISCELLANEOUS. 156 

sovereignty and nationality of the American people in the 
greatest crisis of our history. Republicans cherish none 
of the resentments wliich may have animated them during 
the actual conflict of arms. They long for a full and real 
reconciliation between the sections which were needlessly 
and lamentably at strife. They sincerely offer the hand of 
good will, but they ask in return a pledge of good faith. 
They deeply feel that the party whose career is so illustrious 
in great and patriotic achievements will not fulfill its des- 
tiiiy until peace and prosperity are established in all the 
land, nor until liberty of thought, conscience, and action, 
and equality of opportunity shall not be merely cold for- 
malities of the statute, but living birthrights which the 
humble may confidently claim, and the powerful dare not 
deny. 

CIVIL SERVICE. 

The resolution referring to the public service seems to 
me deserving of approval. Surely no man should be the 
incumbent of an office the duties of which he is for a cause 
unfit to perform, who is lacking in ability, fidelity, or in- 
tegrity, which a proper administration of such office de- 
mands. This sentiment would doubtless meet with general 
acquiescence, but opinion has been widely divided upon the 
wisdom and practicability of various reformatory schemes 
which have been suggested, and of certain proposed regu- 
lations governing appointments to public office. The effi- 
ciency of such regulations has been distrusted mainly be- 
cause they have seemed to exalt mere educational and 
abstract tests above general business capacity and even 
special fitness for the particular work in hand. It seems 
to me that the rules which should be applied to the man. 
agement of pul)lic seraice may b9 properly conformed in 
the main to such as regulate the coiidnet of successful pri- 
vate buisness. Original appoiutments sLould Ic based 



156 CHESTER A. ARIHUR. 

upon ascertained fitness. The tenure of office should be 
stable. Positions of responsibility should, so far as practi- 
cable, be filled by the promotion of worthy and efficient 
officers. Tlie investigation of all complaints, and the pun- 
ishment of all official misconduct, should be prompt and 
thorough. 

These views, which I have long held, repeatedly declared, 
and uniformly applied when called upon to act. I find em- 
bodied in the resolution, which of course I ap])rove. I will 
add that by the acceptance of public office, whether high or 
low, one does not, in my judgement, escape any of his re-, 
sponsibility as a citizen or lose or impair any of his rights 
as a citizen, and that he should enjoy absolute liberty to 
think, and speak, and act in political matters according to 
his owTi will and conscience, provided only that he honora- 
bly, faithfully, and fully oischarges all his official duties. 

FINANCE. 

The resumption of specie-payments — one of the fruits of 
Kepublican policy — has brought a return of abundant pros- 
perity and the settlement of many distracting questions. 
The restoration of sound money, the large reduction of our 
public debt and the burden of interest, the high advance- 
ment of the public credit — all attest the ability and courage 
of the Re])ubliean party to deal with such financial prob- 
lems as may hereafter demand solution. Our paper cur 
rency is now as good as gold, and silver is performing its 
legitimate function for the purpose of change. The prin- 
ciples which should govern the relations of these elements 
of the currency are simple and clear. There must be no 
deteriorated coin, no de]M-c'ciatcd ])aper, and every dollar, 
whether of metal or ])a])er, should stand the test of the 
world's standard. 

POPULAR EDUCATION. 

Th(! value of popular education can hardly be overstated. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 16T 

Although its interests must of necessity be chiefly confided 
to vohmtary eflfort and individual action of the several 
States, they should be encouraged so far as tlie Constitution 
permits by the generous co-operation of the JS^ational Gov- 
ernment. The interests of a whole country demand that 
the advantages ot our common-school system should be 
brought within the reach of every citizen, and that no rev- 
enues of the Nation or the State should be devoted to the 
support of sectarian schools. 

TARIFF AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

Such changes should be made in the present tariff and 
system of taxation as will relieve any overburdened industry 
or class, and enable our manufacturers and artisans to com- 
pete successfully with those of other lands. 

The Government should aid works of internal improve- 
ment, national in their character, and should promote tlie 
development of our water-courses and harbors wherever the 
general interests of commerce require. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

Four years ago, as now, the nation stood at the threshold 
OS a Presidential election, and the Republican party, in 
soliciting a continuance of its ascendency, founded its hope 
of success, not upon its promises, but upon its history. Its 
subsequent course has been sucli as to strengthen the claims 
which it then made to the confidence and support of the 
country. On the other hand, considerations more urgent 
than have ever before existed forbid the accession of its op- 
ponents to power. Their success, if success attend them, 
must chiefly come from the united support of that section 
which sought the forcible destruction of the Union, and 
which, according to all the teachings of our past history, 
will demand ascendency in the councils of the party to 
whose triumph it will have made by far the largest con- 
tribution. 



168 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

Tlicre is tlic gravest reason for the apprehension that ex- 
orbiant chiims upon the public Treasury, by no meaaa 
limited t® tlie liundreds of millions already covered by billa 
introduced in Congress within the past four years, would be 
successfully urged if the Democratic party should succeed 
in supplementing its present control of the National lieg- 
islature by electing the Executive also. 

There is danger in intrusting the whole law-making 
power of the Government to a party which has in almost 
every Southern Sttite repudiated obligations quite as sacred 
as those to which the faith of the Nation now stands pletlged. 

I do not doubt that success awaits the Reptiblican party, 
and that its triumph will assure a just, economical, and 
patriotic administration. I am, respectfully, y(Mir olxxiient 
servant, C. A. Arthur. 

To the Hon. George F. Hoar, President of the Republi- 
can National Convention. 




INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



OF 



PRESIDENTJAMES A.GARFIELD. 



President Garfield delivered the following inaugural 
addrsss at Washington, D. C, March 4th, 1881: 

Fellow Citizkn: We stand to-tlay upon an eminence which 
overloolis a hundred years of National life— a century crowded 
with perils, but crowded with the triumphs of liberty and love. 
Before continuing the onward march, let us pause on this height 
for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by a 
glance at the pathway along which our people have traveled. 

It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adop- 
tion of the first written Constitution and perpetual union. The 
new Republic was then beset with danger on every hand. It had 
not conquered a place in the family of Nations. The decisive 
battle of the War for Independence— whose centennial anniver- 
sary will soon be gratefully celebrated at Yorktown— had not yet 
been fought. The Colonists were struggling not only against the 
armies of Great Britain, but against the settled opinion of man- 
kind ; for the world did not believe that the supreme authority of 
the Government could be safely intrusted to the guardianship of 
the people themselves. 

We can not overestimate the fervent love or the intelligent 
courage, having the common sense with which our fathers made 
the ^reat experiment of self-government. When they found, 
after a short time, that a confederacy of States was too weak to 
meet the necessities of the glorious and expanding llepublic, they 
boldly set it aside, and in its stead established a National Union, 
founded directly upon the will of the people, endowed with future 
powers of self-preservation and with ample authority for the 
accomplishment of its great objects. Under this Constitution the 
,boundaries of freedom enlarged, the foundations of order and 
peace have been strengthened, and growth in all the better ele- 
ments of national life has vindicated the wisdom of the founders, 
and given new hope to their descendants. Under this Constitu- 
tion our people long ago made themselves safe against danger 



100 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

from without, and secured for their mariners and flag equality of 
rigiils on all the seas. Under liiis Constitution twenty-live State- 
houses liave been added to the Union, with Constitutions and 
hiws framed and enforced by their own citizens to secure the 
manifold blessings of local and self-government. (The jurisdic- 
tions of this Constituti.Mi now covers an area fifty times greater 
than tiiat of the original thirteen States, and a population twenty 
times greater than that of 1780. 

Tiie trial of tiiat Constitution came at last under the tremen- 
dous pressure of civil war. "We ourselves are witnesses that the 
Union emerged from the blood and fire of that conflict purified 
and made stronger for all beneficent purposes of good government 
And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the 
inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have lately 
reviewed the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon the 
conduct and opinions of political parties, and have registered 
their will concerning the future administration of the Govern- 
nicnt. To interpret and to execute that will in accordance with 
the Constitution is the paramount duty of the Executive. Even 
from this lirief review it is manifest that the nation is resolutely 
facing to the front, resolving to employ its best energies in devel- 
opin*,' the great possibilities of the future sacredly preserving 
whatever has been gained to liberty and good government during 
the centui-y. Our people are determined to leave behind them all 
those bitter controversies concerning things which have been 
irrevocably settled, further discussion of which can only stir up 
strife and delay the onward march. 

The supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer 
a subject of debate. That discussion, which for half a century 
tlireaicned the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the 
high court of war, by a decree from which there is no appeal; that 
th" <'oiislitution, and tiie laws made in pursuance thereof, shall 
continue to be the supreme law of the land, binding alike on the 
States and the people. Tiiis decree does not disturb the autonomy 
of the States, nor interfere with any of their necessary rules of 
local self-government; but it does lix and establish the permanent 
sujiremacy of the Union. The will of the nation, speaking with 
the voice of battle and through the amended Constitution, has 
fulfilled the great promise of 177(), by proclaiming: "Liberty 
thiDU-'hout th(! land, to all the inhabitants thereof." 

TIh- elevation of the npf^ro race from slavery to the full rights 
of citizenshii) is the most important political change we have 
known since the adoption of the Constitution of 1770. No 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 161 

thonfxhtfnl ni.in can fail to api>reciate its beiicncial effect upon 
our people, it lias freed us from llie perpetual clanger of war and 
dissolulion. It lias added imuiensely to the moral and industrial 
forces of our people. It has liberated the master as well as the 
slave from n relation which wronged and enfeebled both. It has 
surrendered to their own guardianship the manhood of more than 
live million people, and bus opened to each one of them a career 
of freetloin and usefulness. It has given new inspiration to the 
power of self-help in both races, by making labor more honorable 
to the one and more necessary to the other. The inlluence of this 
force will grow greater and bear richer fruit with coming years. 

No doubt the great change has caused serious disturbance to 
our Southern community. This is to be deplored; but those who 
resisted the change should remember that in our institutions 
there was no middle ground for the i.egro between slavery and 
equal citizenship. There can be no permanent disfranchised 
pe.is.intry in the United States. Freedom can never yield its full" 
ness of blessing so long as the law or its administration places the 
smallest obstacle in the \ athway of any virtuous citizenship. The 
emancipated race has already made remarkable progress. With 
unquestionable devolion to the Union, with a patience and gentle- 
ness not born of fear, they have " followed the light as God gave 
them to see the light." They are rapidly laying the material 
foundations of self-support, widening the circle of intelligence, 
and beginning to enjoy the blessings that gather around the 
homes of the industrious poor. They deserve the generous en- 
couragement of all good men. So far as my authority can law- 
fully extend, they shall enjoy the full and equal protection of the 
Constitution and laws. 

The free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and a 
frank statement of the issue may aid its solution. It is alleged 
that in many communities negro citizens are practically denied 
the freedom of the ballot. In so far as the truth of this allegation 
is admitted, it is answered that in many places honest local gov- 
ernment is impossible if a mass of uneducated negroes are allowed 
to vote. These are grave allegations. So far as the latter is true, 
it is no palliation that can be offered for opposing freedom of the 
ballot. Bad local government is certainly a great evil, which 
ought to be prevented ; but to violate the freedom and sanctity of 
suffrage is more than an evil— it is a crime which, if persisted in, 
will destroy the Government itself. Suicide is not a remedy. If 
in other lands it be high treason to compass the death of a King, 
it should be counted no less a crime here to strangle our sovereign 
power and stille its voice. 11 



102 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

It has been said that unsettled questions liave no pity for the 
refMJse of nations. It sliould be said, with the utmost emphasis, 
that this iiuestion of suffrage will never give repose or safety to 
the States or to tlie nation until each, within its own jurisdiction, 
makes and keeps the ballot free and pure by the strong sanctions 
of law. But the danger which arises from ignorance in the voter 
can not be denied. It covers a field far wider than that of negro 
suffrage, and the present condition of that race. It is a danger 
that lurks and hides in the sources and fountain of power in any 
State. We have no standard by which to measure the disaster 
that may be brought upon us by ignorance and vice in citizens, 
when joined to corruption and fraud in the suffrage. The votere 
of the Union, who make and unmake Constitutions, and upon 
whose will hangs tlie destiny of our Governments, can transmit 
their supreme authority to no successor save the coming genera- 
tion of voters, who are the sole heirs of sovereign power. If that 
generation comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance and cor- 
rupted by vice, the fall of the Republic will be certain and reme- 
diless. 

The census has already sounded the alarm in appalling figures, 
which mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy has 
arisen among our voteis and their children. To the South the 
question is of supreme importance; but the responsibility for the 
existence of slavery does not rest ui)on the South alone. The 
nation itself is responsible for the extension of suffrage, and is 
under sijecial obligations to aid in removing the illiteracy which 
it has added to the voting population. For North and South 
alike there is but one remedy: All the constitutional powers of 
the nation and of the States, and all the volunteer forces of the 
people should be summoned to meet this danger by tlie saving in- 
fluence of universal education. It is the high privilege and the 
sacred duty of those now living to educate their successors, and fit 
them by intelligence and virtue for the inheritance which awaits 
them. In tiiis beneticent work sections and races should be for- 
gotten, and partisanship should be unknown. Let our people 
find a new meaning in the Divine Oracle which' declares that "A 
little cijild shall lead them," for our little children will soon con- 
trol the destinies of the Republic. 

My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment con- 
cerning the controversies of the past generations, and fifty years 
hence our children will not be divided in their opinions concern- 
ing our controversies. They will surely bless their fathers and 
their fathers' God that the L'nion was preserved, that slavery 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 108 

was overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the 
law. We may hasten or \v»' may retard, but we can not jirevent 
the final reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to make a 
truce with them by anticipating and accepting its inevitable 
verdict? Enterprises of the higliest importance to our moral and 
material well-being invite us, and offer ample powers. Let all 
our people, leaving behind them the battle fields of dead issues, 
move forward, and in the strength of liberty and restored Union 
win the grandest victories of peace. 

The prosperity which now prevails is without parallel in our 
history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but they 
have not done all. The preservation of the public credit and the 
resumption of specie payments, so successfully obtained by the 
Administration of my predecessors, has enabled our people to 
secure the blessings which the seasons brought. By the experi- 
ence of conuneroial Nations in all ages it has been found that 
gold and silver afforded the only safe foundation for a monetary 
system. Confusion has recently been created by variations in the 
relative value of the two metals; but I confidently believe that 
arrangements can be made between the leading commercial 
Nations which will secure the general use of both metals. Con- 
gress should provide that the compulsory coinage of silver, now 
required by law, may not disturb our monetary system by driving 
eitiier metal out of circulation. If possible, such adjustment 
should be made that the purchasing power of every coined dollar 
will be exactly equal to its debt-paying power in all the markets 
of the world. The chief duty of tlie National Government in con- 
nection with the currency of the country is to coin and to declare 
its value. 

Grave doubts have been entertained whether Congress is au- 
thorized by the Constitution to make any form of iniper money legal 
tender. The present issue of United States notes has been sus- 
tained by the necessities of war; butsuch paper should depend for 
its value and currency upon its convenience in use and its j)ro*mpt 
redemption in coin at the will of the holder, and not upon its 
compulsory circulation. These notes are not money, but promises 
to pay money. If the holders demand it, the promises sliould be 
kept. The refunding of the National debt at a lower rate of in- 
terest should be acconijilished without compellingthe withdrawal 
of National Bank notes, and thus disturbing the business of the 
country. I venture to refer to the position I have occupied on the 
finance question during a long service in Congress, and to say that 
time and experience have strengthened tin* o])ini()ns 1 have so 



IM INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

often expressed on these subjects. The finances of the Govem- 
me:it shall suffer no detriment which it may be possible for my 
Aduiitiistratioii to prevent. 

The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the 
Gov( rnuient than tliey have yet received. The farms of the 
Uniti'd States afford homes and employment for more than one- 
half of our people, and furnish much the largest part of all our 
exports. As tiie Government lights our coasts for the protection 
of mariners and the benefit of commerce, so it should give to the 
tillers of the soil the liglits of practical science and experience. 
Our manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially independ- 
ent, and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable fields 
of employment. This steady and healthy growth should still be 
maintained. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted 
by the continued improvement of our harbors and great water- 
ways, and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean. 

The development of the world's commerce has led to urgent de- 
mands for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by 
constructing ship canals or railroads across the isthmus which 
unites the two continents. Various plans to this end have 
been suggested, and will need consideration ; but none of them 
have been sufHciently matured to warrant the United States in 
extending pecuniary aid. The subject is one which will imme- 
diately engage the attention of the Gover.anent, with a view to 
thorough protection to American interests. AVe will urgeino nar- 
row policy, nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges in any com- 
mercial route; but, in the language of my predecessors, I believe 
It to be " the right and duty of the United States to assert and 
maintain such supervision and authority over any inter-oceanic 
canal acro.ss the isthmus that connects North and South America 
as will i)rotect our National interests." 

The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Con- 
gress is prohibited from making any laws respecting the estab- 
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The 
Territories of the United Slates are subject to the direct legisla- 
tive authority of Congress, and hence the General Government is 
responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. 
It is, therefore, a reproach to the Government that in the most 
populous of the Territories the Constitutional guarantee is not 
enjoyed by the people, and the authority of Congress is set at 
naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of 
mankind by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administra- 
tion of justice througli the ordiiuiry instruinentalitiea of law. In 



OF PRESIDENT QARFIELD. 1« 

my judgment, it is tho duty of Congress, while respecting to the 
uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of 
every citizen, to proliibit within its jurisdiction all criminal prac- 
tices, espe-^ally of that class which destroy the family lelatioD 
and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion be safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the func- 
tions and powers of the National Government. 

The Civil Service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis 
until it is regulated by law for the good of the service itself, for 
the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing 
power against the waste of time and the obstruction of public 
business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the 
protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong. I shall at 
the'proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of minor offices of 
the several executive departments, and prescribe the grounds 
upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which 
incumbents have been appointed. 

Finally, acting always within the authority and the limitations 
of the Constitution, invading neither the rights of the States nor 
the reserved rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my 
Administration to maintain authority, and in all places within 
its jurisdiction to enforce obedience to all laws of the Union and 
in the interests of the people; to demand rigid economy in all 
expenditures of the Government, and to require honest and faith- 
ful service of all executive officers— remembering that offices were 
created, not for the benefit of the incumbents or their supporters, 
but for the service of the Government. 

And now, fellow-citizens. I am about to assume the great trust 
which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that 
earnest and thoughtful support which makes this Government, 
in fact, as it is in law. a Government of the people. 1 shall greatly 
rely u))on the wisciom and patriotism of Congress, and of those 
who may share with me the responsibilities and duties of the 
Administration; and upon our efforts to promote the welfare of 
this great people and their Government, I reverently invoke the 
support and blessings of Almighty God. 



Iti6 AJSaAiitilNATIOH 



ASSASSINATION 



-OF- 



PRESIDENT GARFIELD- 



Full Particulars of the Terrible Event. 

It was on Saturday morning, July 2, 1881, at 9:28, in 
the Baltimore & Potomac depot at Washington, D. C, 
that occurred the tragic attempt to assassinate President 
Gartiield. It was the President's intention that morning 
to have started for Long Branch, where he expected to 
meet Mrs. Garfield and spend a season of pleasant recrea- 
tion. The day opened with refreshing breezes, and it is 
said the President was never more happy; but alas! ere its 
8un had set, the whole nation and civilized world were 
Btricken with unspeakable sadness at what was believed to 
be the momentary death of one of God's noblest of men,. 
James A. Garfield. 

An eye witness of the terrible tragedy says: "I was 
coming down Pennsylvania avenue when I saw a carriage 
coming up the avenue, the horses running so fast that I 
thought they were running away. Just as the carriage 
arrived in front of me a man put his head out of the win- 
dow and said, ' Faster, faster, faster, damn it!' Alter hear- 
ing this remark T thought there was something wrong, and 
ran after the carriage. AVhen it reached the depot a man 
jumped out and entered the ladies' room. He had not been 
there more than tliree minutes when the President arrived, 
•tepped out of his carriage, and also entered the ladies* 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 167 

room. The President, after passing through the door, was 
jnst turning the corner of a seat when the assassin, who 
was standing on the left of the door, tired. The hall struck 
the President in the back. The President fell forward. 
I ran into the depot, and just then the man fired again 
while the President was falling. The moment the Presi- 
dent fell a policeman, who had been standing at the depot 
door keeping the way clear for the President and his party, 
grabbed the assassin by the neck, and, as he pulled him out ^. 

of the depot, another policeman came to his assistance]^ t^M*^ 
Just after firing the shot the assassin exclaimed, 'I've 
killed Garfield! Arthur is President. I am a stalwart!'" 

The first person to reach the President after he had fal- 
len upon the floor, was Mrs. Sarah B. White, a lady in 
charge of the ladies' waiting room, who saw him enter and 
saw the would be assassin raise his hand and fire. She 
raised up the head of the stricken man and he was soon 
placed upon a mattress and borne to an upper room of the 
depot building. 

Gen. Garfield, as he lay upon his mattress in the upper 
room, is said by those who were about him to have been 
brave and cheerful. His first impulse was to have his wife 
informed, and he dictated a dispatch to Col. liockwell, in 
wliich he informed her that he had been wounded, ho-..' 
seriously no one could tell; that he desired her to come 
immediately. He was conscious and sent his love. At the 
same time another dispatch was sent to Maj. Swaim, Judge 
Advocate-General, who had charge of Mrs. Garfield, in- 
forming him of the nature of the shooting, and directed 
him to keep the information from Mrs. Garfield. While 
this was being done, the carriage of one of the Cabinet 
officers who was present was driven with great speed to the 
office of Dr. Bliss, on F street, who, with his instrument- 
case, was hastily driven to the depot, and was the first of 



168 ASSASSINATION 

the physicians to arrive. He instantly pronounced the 
Wound ix dangerous one, but not necessarily fatal. Aftei*t 
wards he said it was a wound of exceedingly severe char- 
acter, and all the physicians concurred with him. Garlield 
manfully and cheerfully talked with his friends, among 
whom was Col. Hubert Ingersoll, to whom he cordially ex- 
tended his hand and said, " I am glad you came." 

It was then found, upon examination, that both shots 
fired by the assassin had taken effect. The tirst was well 
aimed. It had entered the back, just above the kidney, 
and had perforated the liver. The second shot was tired 
while the President was falling, and went under the left 
arm, barely grazing the skin. 

It was evidently Guitean's purpose to shoot Garfield sev- 
eral times, for in the confession which he left sealed, h© 
says that he shot the President several times. 

The surgeons, of whom a dozen had arrived, agreed that 
the President should be taken to the White House as 
speedily as possible before his strength should fail. Gen- 
Sherman, who had also come, had already provided an am- 
bulai;ce, and Secretary of War Robert Lincoln, with re- 
markable sagacity, had ordered a company of troops fVom 
the arsenal to help preserve order. A large squad of 
mounted police had been summoned. They cleared the 
way for the ambulance, riding up the avenue at a furious 
gallop. The ambulance containing the President was 
driven at great speed, to avoid a possible crowd. It en- 
tered the AVhite House grounds at the lower gate, the 
President reclining upon the mattress. As he was lifted 
out he saw, at a window, his private secretary and a num- 
ber of friends Mdio were at the White House looking out, 
who had already been notified by tele])hone i'vorn the depot, 
of the attempted assassination. The President, raising hia 
bead from his improvised litter, waived his hand in greet- 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. IGO 

itifi: to those who were so anxiously watching his arrival. 
H'e showed, even in this suprenje moment, the same tender 
consideration for those around him which has always char- 
acterized his private and public career. He was imme- 
diately brought into the house by the lower entrance, and 
carried to the room occupied by the President, in the south- 
west corner of the second floor; there his clothes, which 
were veiy much soiled with blood, were removed, and he 
was placed upon his bed. Those who saw him say that 
the trace of the bullet was very plainly visible in a murder- 
ous looking liole above the hip. 

Preparations were immediately taken to preserve quiet 
and order. The large lorce of police cleared the White 
House grounds and barred the gates. A company of artil- 
lerymen arrived, and were ordered to camp in the ground, 
and to guard them. The gates were closed to carriages, 
and no persons were allowed to enter the grounds of the 
Executive Mansion without passes from the private secre- 
tary of the President, which were granted to every person 
having any reason except that of idle curiosity to be there. 
Every member of the Cabinet followed the President to the 
White House, and the ladies of the Cabinet officers per- 
formed the tender womanly offices, in the absence of the 
wife who was approaching the National Capital with all 
the speed that steam can give. Officials of all grades and 
prominent persons in the city assembled in the White 
House ante-room, some of them being even permitted to 
enter the President's chamber. It was thought that the 
wound might be probed immediately after the President 
had been brought back to the White House, but this was 
not deemed safe. There were many indications of internal 
hemorrhage. The temperature increased rapidly and the 
pulse was greatly quickened. Soon after the return from the 
depot there was great hope that the bullet might not prove 



no ASSASSINATION 

tVitjil, but wlieii it was discovered that the physicians de- 
clined to make a searcli for it, and postponed any further 
examination until 3 p. m., it became apparent that the Pres- 
ident was too weak to submit to the operation, and theliopes 
of recovery rested first in the location of the bnllet and next 
in a strong constitution. Meanwhile everything was done 
to relieve the sutferer His head was clear and he was very 
comfortable, complaining of nothing except of pain and 
twitching in his feet, which the surgeons said was not a good 
symptom. 

Soon after he had been placed upon the bed Mr. Blaine 
came in. lie had stopped in the ante-room long enough to 
write in his own hand dispatches to Minister Lowell at Lon- 
don, and to the principal diplomatic representatives abroad, 
stating that the President had been shot. "• I never saw,' 
said Postmaster-General James afterwards, "a man of such 
extraordinary nerve as Mr Blaine. He stood beside the 
President when he was shot, and he was the only man in 
all that depot-building who was not almost paralyzed with 
terror. He stood calm and collected in the midst of that 
surging, panic-stricken crowd, and gave his orders as coolly 
as if he had been commanding a battle, and he was within 
a few inches of the assassin's bullet himself." " I never 
thought of myself at all at the time," said Mr. Blaine after- 
wai-ds. " 1 only thought of our poor, dear President." 
AVhen Blaine entered the President'schamber, the President 
hardly turned. Throughout the entire day he always tried 
to turn whenever a triend entered the room, and extended 
liis hand to him. The Secretary of State approached the bed- 
side of the i-a])idly sinking man, when the President placed 
his arm about him. as nearly as he could, and said: "Howl 
love you!" It was not until then that Blaine, the strong man 
broke down. The eyes that had refused to fill during the 
intense excitement of the preceding hour were suffused 
with tears, and the voice was choked when the great man 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 171 

fltricken down embraced him and said: "How I love you!" 
"It was a moment" said Mr. Blaine, "that I never shall 
forget in all my life." The Secretary of State soon retired, 
for he did not wish to excite the wounded man by an exhibi- 
tion of emotion. 

Tlie afternoon was spent in the White House in an agony 
of suspense. The entire Cabinet remained there all the 
time. The physicians were in constant consultation. There 
were some hypodermic injections, after which it was noticed 
that the President vomited, a circumstance said to be ex- 
plained by the fact, subsequently discovered, that the ball 
had perforated his liver. For nourishment he was given 
champagne and ice. 

The President talked all the evening as much as they 
would allow him to talk. Mrs. Secretary Blaine, Mrs* 
Attorney-General MacVeagh, Mrs. Postmaster-General 
James, and Mrs. Secretary of War Lincoln, were in constant 
attendance, and the Cabinet officers occasionally went in to 
see the President. To one of the ladies of the Cabinet the 
President said: 

"What do you suppose he wanted to shoot me for?" 
, She answered that it was charitable to suppose he was a 
crazy and disappointed office-seeker. 

The President said, quoting " Penzance " and cheerfully 
smiling, " I expect that he supposed that ' it was aglorious 
thing to be a pirate King.' " 

The President told Col. Rockwell, soon after the shoot- 
ing, that he feared that the shot was fatal, and that he was 
prepared for the worst. During the afternoon he referred 
very seldom to his condition. His greatest anxiety was to 
see his wife. As often as every fifteen minutes he would 
turn to his attendants and ask how soon they expected her 
to arrive. Bulletins from the rapidly-approaching train 
were received at least every half hour. The tracks had 



172 ASSASSINATION 

been cleared', a:j(l the oijerutors at every station along the 
road had been instructed to telegrapli directly to the White 
House operator at Washington tlie progress ot the train. 
Wlieu it was learned that Mrs. Garfield could not, at best, 
arrive before 7 o'clock, and to do that it would be necessarj' 
to cover the distance between there and Philadelphia in 
tliree hours, the President was disappointed. The momenta 
seemed to hang heavily with him after 5 o'clock p. m., aa 
at that hour, he h;id learned definitely that the physicians 
did nut think that he had much chance to recover. The 
President, at his own earnest re<|uest, was informed of this, 
fact by Dr. Bliss. The President said: 

" I am not afraid to die. I want to know what you think 
of my condition. Tell me the worst." 

Tiie doctor replied that his condition was very serious, 
but he had some chances of life, but that he would do well 
to prepare for the worst. 

One of the ladies of the Cabinet afterwards cheerfully 
said to the President, " We expect to pull you through, 
Mr. President." 

Gen. Garfield answered, "And 1 am going to try to help 
you pull me through." He never lost his spirits, not even 
when the doctor informed him that he, perhaps, had not 
many hours to live. He said: "Then God's will be done; 
1 am content;" but from the moment that he learned that 
he might not liv(\ his thoughts turned more anxiously to 
the arrival of his wife. 

During the afternoon the Cabinet officers seriously di/ir 
cussed the situation. It was noticeable that their thoughta 
were turned chiefly to the sufferer, and very little to the 
political results which might follow from the death of the 
President. 

Mr. Kirkwood sat silently much of the time, smoking in 
the ante-room. He was very calm and sad. Secretary 



OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 173 

Blaine did not leave the room except to take a lunch, and 
he conversed freely about the occurrence, and paid an elo- 
<}Tient tribute to the great qualities of his chief. lie was 
very cahn. His greatest regret seemed to be for the fam- 
ily of the President and for the country. Postmaster-Gen- 
eral James was especially affected. He was frequently 
heard to say, " God save the poor country !" 

Robert Lincoln, painfully reminded of the tragic death 
of his own lather, in the same position, said, in the Cabinet 
Council chamber, while sitting beneath that statue of his 
father which looked down upon him, to a colleague in the 
^Cabinet and some friends: "It is a curious fact that the 
'President has lately talked a great deal about my father. 
At a dinner the other day, to which a number of us were 
invited, his conversation was full of story-telling. He nar- 
rated, among other things, his experiences at the time of 
the assassination in New York, and said he strolled out of 
his room and almost unconsciously attended the meeting 
which was called in Wall street, and made that remarkable 
'«peech which had such an effect in quieting the mob." 

Mrs. GarfieM's meeting with her husband on her arrival 
from Long Branch, is described as an affecting scene. 

Attorney-General MacVeagh and Mrs. James went to 
the door to meet her as the carriage drove up at the south 
entrance. 

" How is he? " she said, as she placed her hands in those 
of Mrs. James. 

" We think he is greatly improved," said the Attorney- 
' General. 

Mrs. Garfield walked quickly up the stairs along which 
her husband had been borne, faint and bleeding, and she 
■Was directed to the room where he was lying. The door 
■was thrown open and she entered. The President opened 
^8 eyes and saw who it was. Mrs. Garfield knelt by the 



174 COL. R'CKWELrJS STORT 

side of the l)ed and threw her arms around him. " It is all 
riirht now," slie exchiinied, ''I am here/' 

The President niurmnred an almost inaudible expression 
of h>ve and returned lier emhrace as best lie could. The 
eingle witness of tlic meeting was moved to tears, but Mrs. 
Gai^field's beariiii^'was such as to inspire confidence in those 
around her. She refused to entertain the idea that her 
husband might die. 

"How does she bear it?" asked the President to Mrs. 
James when Mrs. Garfield liad left the room. 

"Nobly. She is full of courage," was Mrs. James' reply. 

" Thank God for that," said the President, " I would 
rather die than be the cause of bringing on a relapse of her 
illness." 

At this time the President was at the most critical state 
since the shooting. The physicians had abandoned all 
hope of his living more than two or three hours at the 
most. The pulse was mounting higher and higher. There 
were signs of internal hemorrhage and the temperature of 
the body constantly increasing. Tlie members of the Cabi- 
net were sending dispatches to different points announcing 
the speedy dissolution of the President. Within the short 
space of half an hour, however, nature asserted herself, and 
the work of improvement began. 



Col. Rockwell's Story of the Attempted Assassination. 

Col. A. F. Kockwell, the Private Secretary of Gen. Gar. 
field and intimate friend of the President, gives the follow- 
ing account of the attempted assassination: 

"The boys, James aiui Harry (sons of the President), 
started off in the President's carriage to pick up Dr. 
Hawks, their tu|or, who was stopping on F street. The 
President had arranged the night before for Secretary 



OF THE ASSASSINATION. , 178 

Blaine to call at the mansion lO jj^o to the depot with him. 
The Secretary came round in his own carriage. Mine was 
in reserve and followed just behind the Secretary's. [ had 
several pieces of ba<rga<^e to dispose of, and so drove directly 
to the baggage-room, and was getting the checks, when I 
heard a crack, crack, with an interval between the .shots 
as long as it would take to cock a pistol. On the sill of 
the door leading from the ladies' parlor into the general 
reception room, or main hall, stood Secretary Blaine, call- 
ing for nie and pointing to the would-be assassin, Guiteau. 
It was a terrible thought, but nevertheless one which 
flashed across my mind that the President had been shot. 
Quickly I had the President's carriage brought to the main 
door, the cushions arranged to make the President as com- 
fortable as possible, and was prepared to take him directly 
to the mansion. The physicians advised against it and for 
the best. After I had written from his dictation a touch- 
ing telegram to his wife, and a hasty examination had been 
made up stairs, he was removed to the ambulance. The 
President put his hand in mine and the driver was cau- 
tioned to proceed slowly over the cobble-stone pavement 
until we reached the concrete at Seventh street. We had 
traveled but two squares from the depot when he asked, 
'How far are we now?' and in a subdued voice said: ' It 
hurts, oh! it hurts.' At Thirteenth street he again asked: 

"Where are we now?" 1 told him and he urged us to go 
a little faster. 

" It is impossible to describe Mrs, Garfield, the 
heroic wife and mother. She, too, realizes the restraint 
which the medical advisers have been compelled to put 
upon her visits to the President's bedside. The sympathy 
between them, the union of their hearts, impels the Presi- 
dent to want to exert himself, and then we have to protest, 
and the good woman retires." 



176 COL. IWCKWELU^ iSTORT 

"It is true, tliat on ti.e inornin_<2: before the deed, the 
President turned :i handspring over his bed!" 

" It was the morning before, this day week, Jimmie, 
there the fellow sits,'' pointing to Private Secretary 
Brown's desk, "came into his father's chamber half-dressed, 
and iy his nimble way turned a handspring over the .»ed 
and back again. ' See here, ])apa," he said, "if you were 
not so stout, you might do that, too, couldn't you? The 
President kept on with his toilet, until Jim's bantering 
somewhat nettled him, and, before the boy could realize it, 
the President had turned gracefully from one side of a large 
double bed to the other, and came down with a thump on 
the floor. " There, my boy, the son is not greater than his 
father; now linish your dressing." "I suppose," continued 
the Colonel, "the 'itory was told to illustrate the strength 
and suppleness of the President at his age of life. Very 
few men of 50 years (for the President will be that old on 
the 9th day of November next) would care to undertake 
such a feat. But the story has a thrilling secret. You 
know, the ladies' room, where the shots were lired, is about 
twenty feet wide — that is, from the door-sill to the opposite 
hall. The aisle-way leading to the main hall is formed by 
a double row of seats, heavily cushioned and of large frame 
work. 

When the President entered the depot with Secretary 
Blaine, he was in his cheeriest mood. He passed half ^\ay 
down the aisle, Blaine preceding him a very few steps. 
Guiteuu stood at the inside end of the row of seats near the 
main entrance on the left, when he iired the first shot, 
which did the President no harm, for he turned to see from 
whence the sound came, and saw (Juiteau advancing. He 
wiis preparing to leap over the seat, that is, he realized 
when he turned j)artially around that the man had fired at 
him. He instantly determined to attack the man. The 



OF THE ASSASSINATION. 177 

next instant the President wonld liave been face to face 
with Guitean. Ilis coniidence in his ability to sj)ringover 
the barrier, for the back of the seats is about four feet 
high, flashed upon him, and his whole muscular strength 
was strained for the act when he fell forward struck by the 
second shot. Guiteau was behind him. The instant he 
pulled the trigger the first time he stepped forward four 
feet. It was but the very fraction of a second between the 
explosion and the President's alarm. The fraction was on 
the side of the would-be assassin. 

His purpose was also to fire a second shot, and he stepped 
quickly forward to get as near the President as possible. 
They were not six feet apart, so that the instant the Presi- 
dent realized the situation his intense activity of mind and 
muscle made him aggressive, and it was at that instant he 
received the staggering buHet and fell forward against the 
wainscoting of the reception-room, at the head of the aisle 
leading to the main hall. Till no.v the impression seems 
to have gained a hold that Guiteau's act was done so quickly 
that the President did'not comprehend what was going on. 
It is true, as I told you a while ago, that the reports of 
the firing were so close together that it could not have been 
longer than it would take to cock a pistol, yet during this 
time Guiteau was advancing and the President preparing 
to advance upon his assailant. 

Anyone who will take his watch and carefully obsen-e 
the beats of the second-hand, will be surprised at the dis- 
tance one can get over in a second if impelled by a strong 
motive. The position in which Guiteau stood made it 
necessary for him to shoot at nearly an angle of 40 degrees 
while the position of the body of the President was also at 
about the same angle with the seats when the ball struck 
his ri^ht side. With this understanding of the position of 
the two, it is evident that the ball met with great resistance 

12 



178 INCIDENTS ON THE HICK-BED. 

and was deflected. Its natural course would have been 
tlirougli the body, passing out over the pelvis, so it is a 
reasonable theory that, upon entering the interior of the 
body, its force had been exhausted, and the internal injury 
is less than it was at first supposed. All of which gladdens 
us with increased hop© and conviction that his recovery is 
now only a question of time." 



Scenes and Incidents on the Sick-Bed. 

" NOT SO WELL AS I THOUGHT." 

One day before a chill, the President was speaking words 
of hope and enjoying the soft breeze tempered by the rays 
of the sun that flowed in so gratefully through the window. 
He had said: 

" I feel better. The rigor yesterday was at the best but 
a trifle." The President asked what they were about to 
write of his condition. Bliss announced: 

" We are going to give the public good news to-day.' 

" You are not likely, responded the patient, to make it 
too strong. I feel ever so much better." 

" Directly afterwards the chill came. When the rigor 
passed there was no apparent rally on the part of the pa- 
tient, who lay exhausted in a stupor. For a time it seemed 
as if th'e end had really come, and that out of that state of 
unconsciousness the President would never awake. The 
treatment, however, had its effect in time, although nearW 
three hours after the chill had gone by." 

Perspiration that followed the chill was profuse, but the 
mind was clear, and he seemed to bear up bravely, though 
•aware of his condition. He said half jestingly, " I am not 
not 80 well as I thought I was, am I ?" 

THE patient's WATCHFULNESS. 

When Dr. Bliss was taking the temperature one evening, 
,an operation which consumes exactly ten minutes, he re- 



INCIDENTS OF THE SICK-BED. 179 

marked to General Swaim after nine minutes had passed: 

" I can't make it about normal." 

'" Well," said the President, "you have just one minute 
more." 

The Doctor was surprised by tlie accuracy of the patient's 
information regarding the lapse of time. 

" How do you know?" he asked. 

In reply the President pointed to a little clock sitting on 
the mantel, a present from some friend the presence of 
which the Doctor had not discovered until that moment. 

LAST OF EARTH. 

General Swaim tells the story of the death-bed scene from 
his own observations. He was General Garfield's watcher 
for the night, and Dr. Bliss had gone across the passage to 
his own room to prepare for Swaim, before going to bed, a 
written memoranda of what was to be the treatanent of the 
case for the night. A few moments before ten o'clock, while 
the President was sleeping, Swaim put his hand under the 
bed-clothes, and finding that the patient's limbs were slightly 
cold he immediately applied warm cloths. At ten o'clock 
the President awoke from pain in the region of the heart, 
and placing his hand upon his left breast said: ''I have a 
terrible pain," and asked for a glass of water. Before the 
water could be handed to him he exclaimed: "Oh Swaim,'' 
and with his hand pressed upon his heart at once lost con- 
sciousness. 

Dr. Bliss and the other physicians were promptly sum- 
moned, and did what they could to revive him, although it 
was evident that death was upon him. He lay there, his 
breath passing in sighs. Mrs. Garfield stood there, and 
fully realizing the calamity that was present, said: '-Why 
am I called upon to bear this sorrow ?" At 10:35 life was 
extincf, and Mrs. Garfield passed from the chamber. After- 
ward she returned and remained for two hours with the 
body of her dead husband. 



leo 



THE MEDICAL RECORD. 



THE MEDICAL RECORD. 

PULSE, TEMPERATURE AND RESPIRATION. 

The following table, compiled from the otlicial bulletins, shows 
the variations of the pulse, temperature and respiration of Presi- 
dent Garlield each day since he was wounded. The highest pulse 
recorded, it will be seen, was 130, which was 60 pulsations" above 
the normal rate of the patient, and the lowest was 94, which was 
24 pulsations too many. 



Jnly 



136 



io6 



6.00 p ni 

8. 30 p m 
11.20 p in 

a. 45 a 111 

8.00 a in 
10. 10 a m 

3. 00 p 111 
10.45 P •" 

8. IS a 111 
12. 30 p m 
7.45 P '" 

10. 00 p m 

8. 30 a m 
12.30 p 111 

8. 30 p m 

8. 30 a 111 
12.30 p ni 

8.30 p m 

9. IS a 111 
1. 00 p m 
8.30 p 111 
8. 30 a m 

12.30 p ni 
8.00 p 111 
8.30 a in 
i.oo p m 
7.30 p m 
8.00 a in 
1.00 p m 
7.00 p m 
8. 00 u in 
1.00 p m 
7.00 p m 
8.00 a ni 
I. CO p m 
7.00 p m 
8 90 a in 
1.00 p m 
7 00 p m 
8. 30 a in 
1.00 p 111 
7. 00 p 111 
8. 30 a m 
i.oo p m 
7.00 j) III 
8.30 a III 
7.00 p in 
8. 30 a m 
7.00 p m 
8.30 a in 
7.00 p ni 
8.30 a 111 
7.00 p in 
8. 30 a 111 
7.00 p ni 
8. 30 a ni 
7.0-^ p III 
a. 30 n III 
<>. 3.) p III 
7. oo a iii^j 
io.ro a III 
12. y) p m 



icc. 
loi. 9 

lOI. 

100.5 

lOI. 

101.9 
98.9 
99.7 

100. 



101. 

99.2 
104. 
101.3 

99-4 
loi. 



01.9 

00. 
•05.3 
101.9 

98.2 

99.8 
102.8 

99.6 22 
100.8 24 
102.4 ^ 

98. 5 
100.6 22 
101.6 24 

99.8 

99-5 



90 

94 ,. 
98 101. 



98. s 
98.5 

100.4 
98S 
98.4 
98.4 

X00.3 
98.4 

ILO.7 
rA5 
9').» 
9«.4 
'/>■ (• 
'A 4 

99. 9 



98.4 
101. I 
If^. 4 



Au^st 





>T- 


H 


- 




Z 


2 


'' 


































Time 




s 


P 






















? 




7.00 p m 


iiR 


101.7 


2.') 


8. 15 a m 


98 


98.4 


I'd 


12.00 a m 


118 


99.8 


M 


7.00 p m 


104 


99.2 


■:j 


8.30 a m 


96 


98.4 




7.00 p in 






24 


8.30 a ni 


102 


98.4 




7.00 p in 


104 


100.7 


Zi 


8.00 a m 




98.4 




7.00 p m 


96 


98. s 


JO 


8. 00 a m 


92 


984 




7.00 p ra 


94 


100.5 


20 


8.30 a m 


92 


98.4 




7.00 p m 


9« 


106. 


20 


8 30 a m 


92 


98.4 




7.00 p in 


94 


100.2 


JU 


8. 30 a m 


94 


98.4 


18 


7.00 p 111 


94 


99- 


JU 


8.30 a m 


94 


q3.4 


18 


7.00 p m 


94 


99. b 


JO 


8.30 a m 


94 


98.4 




7.00 p ni 


94 


JOO. 


JO 


8.30 a m 


90 


98.4 




7.00 p in 


102 


98.4 


'9 


8. 30 a m 


90 


98.4 




7.00 p in 




100.2 


19 


8. 30 a ni 


88 


98.4 


18 


7.00 p m 


102 


100.4 




H 30 a ni 


92 


98.4 




7.00 p m 


102 




'9 


8.30 a m 


96 


98.7 


18 


7.00 p ni 


104 


J01.2 


Jtj 


8. 30 a m 


94 


98.7 




7.00 p ni 


I0^ 


IOI.9 


»9 


8.30 a m 


98 


99.8 


lU 


7.00 P m 


106 


I0I.9 


■9 


8. 30 a in 


94 


98.5 


•9 


7. CO p in 


kV- 


lOI. 


19 


8. 30 a 111 


100 


98 6 


'9 


7.3c p m 


K* 


101.2 


19 


8. 30 a ni 


l« 


98.6 


■9 


7.30 P ni 


lOt 


101.2 


'9 


8. 30 a ni 


104 


100.8 


'9 


6.30 P m 


104 


100.7 


'9 


8. 30 a III 


l<x 


99.8 


'9 


6.30 P in 


l'> 




iH 


8.30 a m 


!>>'' 


n;io. 2 


10 


6. 30 P ni 


130 


99.0 


'9 


8.30 a III 




98.6 


IH 


6 30 P 111 


lao 


98.9 


18 


8.30 a ni 


IK 


oS. 1 


l5 


6 30 P m 


112 


98. 6 


iH 


8. 30 a ni 


104 


■A 8 


IH 


6.30 P 111 


lU 


lOO. 




8. 30 a ni 


ifx 


98.4 


'9 


!'>. 30 P m 


li< 


IClO. 


18 


8.30 II- m 


<i« 


.;8.4 


IH 


6.30 P 111 




1..1.4 


18 


8.30 a mluv 


0R.8 


Itt 


6.30 P 111 


|u« 


100.4 


■9 



Augrust 



Sept. 





•fl 


1-3 












B 




<D 


■s 


Time 




p 

C 








8. 30 a m 


104 


98.4 


6. 30 p m 


110 




8.30 a m 


100 


98.4 


6.30 p in 


104 


99.2 


8.30 U 111 


100 


98. s 


6.30 p ni 


ice 


98.2 


8. 30 a m 


106 


98. >; 


6.30 p m 


112 


99.8 


8. 30 a in 


I0« 


99.1 


6.30 p m 




99-9 


8.30 a m 


I20 


98.4' 


6. 30 p m 


114 


79-9 5 


8.30 a m 


100 


98.4 


6.30 p m 


110 


99-7 : 


8. 30 a m 


loo 


98.5 


6.30 p m 


110 


100. s 


8.30 p m 


112 


98.5 


6.30 p m 


109 


99-5 


8.30 11 ni 


100 


98.4 


6. 30 p in 


109 


98.6 


8.30 a m 


100 


98.4 


6.30 p in 




99-4 


8. 30 a m 


loo 


98.4 


6. 30 p ni 


104 


99.2 


8. 30 a m 


104 


98.6 


6. 30 p m 


102 


q8.6 


8.30 a m 


lu8 


98.4 


6.30 p lU 


110 


99. 


8.30 a m 


102 


99-5 


6. 30 p m 


ict! 


99.8 


8. 30 a m 


lit 


99.8 


6. 30 p ni 


1-4 


101.6 


9.00 a ni 


106 


98.4 


6.00 p III 




lOl. 


&30 a ni 


104 


98.7 


5.00 p m 


100 


99-1 


8.30 a m 


loo 


98.S 


6.00 p m 


100 


98.0 


8. 30 a m 


104 


99-4 


6.00 p in 


100 


98.7 


8.30 a in 


104 


98.8 


6.00 p ra 


110 


100. 


9.00 a m 


100 


98.4 


12.00 III 


K* 


99.2 


5.30 P ni 


100 


9S 6 


8.30 a in 




09.4 


5-30 p m 




98.4 


Q..30 a ni 


100 


98.4 


b, 30 p III 


112 


99.2 


8. 30 a in 


IM 


98.4 


5.30 p m 


I..4 


92.2 


». 3.1 a 111 


104 


98 6 


5. 30 u "> 
8. 30 *in 


104 


98.6 


luO 


99. 8 


S. 30 p 111 


102 


98. 


8 *) a m 


Il'2 


98 .6 


9. e^) a III 


III' 


I'.I.O 


5. .1" p "' 


11^ 


98.4 


8.00 a m 


U<) 


98.8 


12.30 p m 


104 


98.2 



THB RUN TO LONG BRANCH, 181 



The Bun to Long Branch. 

Private Secretary Brown makes, in substance, the fol- 
lowing statement of tlie trip from Washington to the El- 
beron : 

Upon leaving the executive mansion the President 
seemed to enjoy the scenery and looked around inquiringly. 
He noticed several employes standing in front of the man- 
sion and waved his hand to them, at the same time smiling 
as if it were very gratifying to him to leave the scene of his 
long illness. All the way to the depot he was a very anx- 
ious observer of everytliing, and this he was not prevented 
doing. Upon arrival at Sixth street and Pennsylvania 
avenue the patient was 'removed from the express wagon 
and placed on a spring mattress which had been prepared 
for his reception. 

The President experienced little or no disturbance in be- 
ing transferred from the vehicle to the car, and his pulse, 
although slightly accelerated, reaching about 115, iell to 
about 106 before the train started, and shortly after fell to 
104, and again to 102. 

The first stop of the train was made at Patapsco, at 
which point the parotid gland was dressed. 

The pessengers on the special train besides th . President 
were: Mrs. Garfield and Miss Mollie; C. O. Eockwell, 
the President's brother-in-law; Col. A. F. Eockwell, wife 
and daughter; Gen. D. G. Swaim, Secretary Brown, Col. 
H. C. Corbin and Warren S. Young, assistant to Secretary 
Brown. The surgeons in charge, namely, D. W. Bliss, J. 
K. Barnes, J. J. Woodward, Kobert Reyburn and D. Hayes 
Agnew; nurses, Drs. S. S. Boynton and Edson; domestics, 



18J THE RUN TO LONG BRANCH. 

Dane, Sprigg, Mary White, and Eliza Cutter; T. N. Ely, 
Buperintendeut of motive power of the Pennsylvania rail- 
way, in charge of the train; Charles Watts, assistant in 
charge of the train ; James T. Elder, chief inspector of air 
brakes; George Albright, inspector of air-brakes; J. P. 
Syster, carpenter; E. M. Berrell, porter of President Rob- 
erts' car, porter; Andrew James, assistant porter, and J. 
Sharp, assistant trainmaster of the Baltimore and Potomac 
railroad; William Page, engineer; E. Grinnell, fireman; 
J. Mason, fireman ; G. K. Dean and James Kelly, brake- 
men on the Baltimore and Potomac. Extract of beef was 
administered at 10:10 a. m. 

A stop of four minutes occurred at Lamokin for fuel,t. e 
only time coal was taken in on the trip. At 10:30 a stop 
of five minutes was made at Gray's Ferry for water. Be- 
tween Philadelphia and Monmouth Junction the special 
train made several miles at the rate of seventy miles per 
hour. 

Bay View was reached at 8:05, and a brief stop was 
made to enable the surgeons to make a dressing of the 
wound. It was found to have suflered no derangement by 
travel. The dressing was soon accomplished, and the train, 
after leaving Ba.y View, was run at the rate of fifty miles 
an hour. The track in this locality is very straight, and in 
excellent condition, and, though the speed was at times 
greater than fifty miles an hour, the vibration of the Presi- 
dent's bed was no more than it would have been had the 
train been moving at twenty milcB per hour. The attend- 
ing surgeons felt very much gratified with the manner in 
which the removal was conducted, and were generally of 
opinion that, with the exception of being slightly fatigued, 
the President would endure the journey exceedingly well. 

A gentleman who was on board the President's train said 
that when Philadelphia was passed Mrs, Garfield came into 



TEE RUN TO LONG BRANCH. 183 

the car. Tlie President was lying in a half doze, but seemed 
to recognize her presence, and immediately opened his eyes 
and said: "Well, Crete, this is quite a journey." 

"Do you feel any bad effects of the ride," she asked 
kindly. 

" Not a bit. This is many times better than the confine- 
ment of that horrible room in the "White House." 

Before that, and while passing through Chester, he no- 
ticed from the elevation on which he lay, and which enabled 
him to look out through the window, a large crowd at the 
depot. It was, in fact, the only place where there was a 
crowd on the line of route. lie was very much interested; 
in fact, his interest partook of the nature of excitement.. 
Dr. Bliss stepped forward and dropped the curtain of the 
window. 

"Put it up," said Mr. Garfield, pettishly. "I want to 
see the people." 

At this time the train was running at the rate of fifty- 
five miles an hour. There are a number of switches here, 
and the only jolt that had been felt was experienced as the 
train daehed over the rails of the freight-yard at the uorth 
Bide of "Washington. He placed his hand on his stomach 
and said: 

" It feels qualmish." 

The doctors were afraid that a recurrence of the vomitings 
which boded such disastrous results, was about to come. 
He was given a considerable quantity of stimulant, and,, 
under its influence, he fell asleep and rode fourteen miles 
in fourteen minutes, without waking. When he opened 
his eyes he said : 

" Where are we ? — half way ?" 

Col. Rockwell, who was beside him, said : " Yes, more 
than half way," and he replied : 



184 THE RUN TO LONG BRANCH. 

''Well, this is the most interesting day I have had since 
I was shot." 

At Gray's Ferry, three miles south of Philadelphia, the 
journals on the President's car had become so heated that 
it was necessary to repack them. When the train started 
agnin they were not to stop until they reached Freehold, 
sixty miles nearer the point of destination. 

Once, when traveling at the rate of sixty miles an hour, 
Dr. Bliss said to him : 

" Mr. President, if the movement affects you in any way, 
we will reduce the speed." 

" No," he answered, " let her go." / 

Afterward Dr. Bliss remarked that we would stop and 
give him his bath. 

" No," said the President, " to get to the end of this trip 
is more important now than the bath." 

The President was given food regularly every two hours 
during the journey, but he had no enema given him. Ilis 
food consisted of from two to four ounces of beef extract 
«ach timer. 

A track 3,500 feet long had been laid from the regular 
station to the front door of the cottage where he was to stop. 
Although the sun was broiling hot and Long Branch has 
seldom experienced such sultriness, the long line of roads 
was lined with carriages, and with men and women on foot, 
of all ages and from every class in society, each bent on 
showing reverence to the President. It was known that he 
would not be seen, and the mere sight of a moving train 
would have drawn none of them, but it was a spontaneous 
movement on the part of all witliin reach to stand quietly 
and in a respectful attitude while the Nation's suflerer 
passed. The track had been laid not only to the grounds, 
but through them and close up to the porch where he was 
to be received. 



THE ENGINEERS STORY, 186 

Shortly after one o'clock the train was seen coming slowly 
round the curve out from the apple orchard througli which 
the branch track passes. When within two hundred feet 
of the cottage the train stopped. The last car, containing 
Mrs. Garfield, her daughter Mollieand Mrs. and Miss JRock- 
well, was uncoupled and pushed by the railroad laborers a 
little beyond the cottage. Then the President's car was de- 
tached, and a hundred citizens sprang forward and sur- 
rounded it. It was moved gently, and stopped right before 
the ocean-side entrance to the cottage at 1 :31 p. m., having 
occupied almost exactly six hours in its trip from "Washing- 
ton. First several utensils were taken out by attendants. 
At last all was ready, and the President was carefully lifted 
from the car on a stretcher, which was carried by the sur- 
geons into the cottage beneath canvas awnings which ran 
out from the entrance to the car and concealed the sight 
from the crowd, which soon began to disperse. 



The Engineer's Story. 

"William Page was the man who brought the President 
through safely from "Washington to Long Branch. He was 
a most striking figure on the train as it pushed up in front 
of the Elberon. His long beard was floating in the wind, 
which was blowing in from the sea, and his swarthy face 
was covered with dirt and cinders. He stood erect and 
firm, and with an air of conscious pride in every feature, 
that showed he was conscious of a duty well performed. 

"Did she behave well to-day on the trip?" was asked. 

" Behave? "Well I should say so. She seemed to feel all 



180 THE ENGINEER'S STORT. 

that was required of her. "WTien, on ordinary occasions, I 
take Ler over the road she starts off with a jerk like, and 
raising herself, and goes galloping down, puffing and snort- 
ing, but this morning she glided away as gentle as a lady'fr 
mare, and even when I put her to her best, and she went 
on at the rate of a mile in fifty-three seconds, she seemed to 
hold her breath." As he said this he leaned out of the cab 
and looked at his engine as kindly as a rider would his fav- 
orite horse. 

" Then you limited the speed to forty-five miles an hour, 
which was intended?" 

'' Oh, no ! that you see, would only have been three- 
fourths of a mile to a minute, and a good deal of the way 
we made more than a mile a minute." 

" Did the doctors and the President know you were going 
at that speed ?" 

" They did not the first time I let her go ; and I'll tell 
you," he said, after a moment's hesitation, " how I came to 
do it. We left Washington at 6:37 this morning. We ran 
down to Patapsco, thirty-seven miles out, at a limited rate. 
There we stopped three minutes. This stop, like all the 
other stops made on the way up, were to change crews, to 
water, and allow the physicians to attend on the President. 
I saw one of the attendants, I guess it was Col. Kockwell, 
coming down the platform, and I called out to him, ' How 
is the President?' Tou see though I was not sure who he 
was, I felt kind of safe in calling him Colonel. ' He is 
doing finely. Page,' came back the answer. 

' Does he feel the motion?' ' Not at all. Wh}-, you are 
going as smoothly as a carriage over an asphalt pavement.' 

" Was it then you began to think of running a little 
faster?" 

"Well, yes; but as Bay view, our next stopping place, 
was only eight miles further, I did not try until we started 



THE ENGINEER'S STORY. . 187 

from Bayview to Perryville, seventy-eight miles out from 
"Washington. They sent word that the President had 
been doing better and better as the distance from the 
White Ilonse was increased, so I thought I would water the 
engines, and, if she went smoothly, try one mile a little 
faster. Lamokin, the next halt, was forty-six miles further 
on. The engine behaved beautifully, and was halfway be- 
tween Bayview and Lamokin. I went on with the trial, 
and went one mile in fifty-three seconds. 1 did not feel a 
jolt or jar as she went tearing down the track, but I knew 
then that if the President had a mind he might get the 
sea-breeze sooner. We stopped seven minutes at Lamokin, 
I called out to one of the attendants: ' Did you notice any 
extra motion when we were going faster?' 

" ' Why, no,' was the reply, %'ere we traveling faster 
than forty-five miles an hour?' 

" ' Yes, sir,' says I, ' we went one mile in fifty-three 
seconds.' 

" ' Well,' says he, ' I did not notice it, and I am sure the 
President did not. I will go and ask.' 

" Pretty soon I saw him coming down the platform. 

" ' Whip her up, Page, whip her up,' he called out. The 
President did not feel any extra motion. They were all 
delighted to hear that we were getting along faster, and the 
President said: 'Tell him to go ahead. I want to get 
there.' 

" ' Does he continue to improve?' I asked. 

" ' Yes, He said a short time ago : ' I feel as if I were 
on the road to recovery.' " 

" After these stops," was asked, " you went pretty much 
at the speed you thought best, according to your knowledge 
of the road?" 

" Pretty much as I thought best, and the engine behaved 
well right through to Elberon — yes sir, right straight 



188 THE LAST DATS BULLETINS. 

through. She ran more smoothly than she is running now, 
and I warrant you'er not being mucli shaken at this mo- 
moment." 

'^ I suppose after this she will be the most famous engine 
on the road?" 

" Yes, sir, and she ought to be. I guess she has earned 
a National reputation to-day." 



The Last Day's Bulletins. 

The following bnlletin8<^ere issued during the day on 
which the President died. The last one, it will be noticed, 
was sent at 10:10 p. m. At 10:35, the great and good man 
was dead. 

Elberon, N. J., Sept. 19, 9 A. M.— The condition of the Presi- 
dent this morning continues unfavorable. Shortly after the issue 
of the evening bulletin he had a chill lasting fifteen minutes. 
The febrile rise following continued until 12 midnight, during 
which time his pulse ranged from 112 to 180. The sweating that 
followed was quite profuse. The congh, which was quite trouble- 
some during the chill, gave him but little annoyance the remainder 
of the night. This morning at 8 o'clock his temperature is 98.8, 
pulse. 106 andfefblc; respiration, 22. At 8:30 another chill came 
on, on account of which the dressing was temporarily postponed. 
A bulletin will be issued at 12 :30 P. M. D. W. Bliss, 

D. Hayes Agnew. 

12:30 P. M.— Tlie chill from which the President was sulTering 
at tlie time the morning bulletin was issued lasted about fifteen 
minutes, and was followed by febrile rise of temperature and 
sweating. lie has slept much of tlie time, but his general condi- 
tion has not materially changed since. Temperulure, 9S.2; pulse, 
104; respiration. 20. D. \V. Bliss. 

D. Hayes Agxew. 

2 P. M.— Dr. Uoynton says the President is perceptibly weaker 



THE DEATH-BED SCENE. ISe 

than yesterday. There was considerable mental disturbance last 
night, and there has been more or less delirium to-day. There is 
nothing encouraging to report so far this afternoon. He takes 
his nourishment and stimulents as usual. 

6 P. M,— Though the gravity of the President's condition con- 
tinues, there has been no aggravation of the symptoms since the 
noon bulletin was issued. lie has slept most of the time, cough- 
ing but little and with more ease. The sputa remains unchanged. 
A sufficient amount of nourishment has been taken and retained. 
Temperature, 98.4; pulse, 102; respiration, 18. 

6:40 P. M.— In an interview a few minutes ago, Attorney-General 
MacVeagh said therewereno new grounds for hope, and the Pres- 
ident coul^ not last long in his present weak condition. He is 
weaker now than at any time, and the Attorney-General has the- 
greatest apprehensions. The mind of the President has been per- 
fectly clear all day. There is no reason now to believe he will 
have another chill. The Attorney-General says he understands 
every precaution has been taken during the day to prevent recur- 
rence of the rigors. At 6 :30 Miss MolUe Garfield was walking on 
the lawn with several ladies. 

7 :25 P..M.— Dr. Agnew said he does not feel much encouraged 
by the evening bulletin. The case is still criticaL 

THE LAST WHILE ALIVE. 

10:10 P. M.— The President thus far has passed a comfortable 
night. He is now sleeping with pulse at 120 and no indicationa of 
another chill. 



The Death-Bed Scene. 

The death-bed scene of the President was a peculiarly 
sad and impressive one. As soon as the doctors felt there 
was no longer hope, the members of the family assembled. 
Dr. Bliss stood at the head of the bed with his hand on 
the pulse of the patient, and consulted in low whispers 
with Dr. Agnew. The Private Secretary stood on the 



190 THE DEATH-BED SCENE. ' 

opposite Bide of the bed, with Mrs. Gariield at the bedside, 
she at times leaning on his arm. Miss Lulii liockwell and 
Miss Mollie Gartield came into the room at the time the 
President lost consciousness. Afterward they went into 
the hall, the door of which remained open, and waited 
there. What conversation was had was conducted in whis- 
pers. Those about the bed occasionally went into the cor- 
ners of the room and spoke to each other. The solemnity 
of the occasion fully impressed itself upon them. There 
was no sound heard except the gasping for breath of the 
sufferer, whose changing color gave indications of the near 
approach of the end. 

LAST WORDS. 

After B.e had repeated " It hurts," he passed into a state 
of unconsciousness, breathing heavily at times, and then giv- 
ing a slight indication that breath vias still in his body. 
The only treatment that was given was hypodermic injec- 
tions of brandy by Dr. Agnew, assisted by Dr. Boynton. 
Occasionally they spoke with Dr. Bliss in quiet whispers. 
The President suffered no pain after the time lie placed his 
hand upon his heart. He passed away almost quietly. 
The time between life and death was not marked by any 
physical exhibition or any word. There was absolutely no 
scene. The intervals between the gaspings became longer, 
and presently there was no sound. Everyone present knew 
death had come quickly, without pain. When it became 
evident that he was dead, Mrs. Rockwell placed her arm 
around Mrs. Garfield and led her quietly from the room. 
She uttered no word. One by one the spectators left the 
scene, the doctors only remaining in the room, and the 
windows were closed- 



I 



THE AUTOPSY. 181 

AROUND THE DEATH-BED. 

The following persons were present when the President 
breathed his last : Drs. Bliss and Agnew, Mrs. Garfield 
and her daughter Mollie, Col. Rockwell, O. C. Rockwell, 
Gen. Swaira, Dr. Boynton, Private Secretary J. Stanley 
Brown, Mrs. and Miss Rockwell, Executive Secretary 
"Warren Young, H. L. Atchison, Jolin Ricker, S. Lancaster 
and Daniel Spriggs, attendants — the last named colored. 

Mrs. Garfield sat in her chair shaking convulsively, and 
with the tears pouring down her cheeks, but uttering no 
sound. After a while she arose, and, taking hold of her 
dead husband's arm, smoothed it up and down. Poor 
little Mollie threw herself upon her father's shoulder on 
the other side of the bed, and sobbed as if her heart would 
break. Everybody else was weeping. At midnight Mrs. 
Garfield was asked if she would like to have anything done, 
and whether she desired to have the body taken to AYash- 
ington. She replied that she could not decide until she 
became more composed. 



The Autopsy. 



It was 3 o'clock when the special train which had gone 
to Sea Girt to meet the physicians summoned from "Wash- 
ington to attend the autopsy arrived at Elberon. The 
surgeons, Drs. Reyburn, Barnes, "Woodward, and Lamb 
were driven at once to the hotel, and, after a short consul- 
tation with the other doctors, it was decided to proceed 
with the autopsy at once, as the sun was already declining 
in the "West, and it was desirable to perform the work 



192 THE AUTOPSY. 

during the daylight. The physicians, therefore, proceeded 
at once to their work. At 4 o'clock the body was laid out 
for the examination. There were present Drs. Agnew, 
Bliss, Barnes, Reyburn, Woodward, and Lamb. The ex- 
amination proved a slow and dangerous one, the poisonous 
condition of the flesh, notwithstanding being carefully 
prepared for the work, rendering it exceedingly dangerous 
to handle. It was fourteen minutes to 8 o'clock before the 
physicians concluded their work. They then came out to 
lunch, and returned to prepare their report. 

THE OFTIOLAX REPORT. 

Elbekon, N. J., Sept. 20.— The following official bul- 
letin was prepared at 11 o'clock to-night by the surgeons 
who have been in attendance upon the late President: 

By previous arrangement the post mortem examination of the 
body of President GarQeld was made this afternoon in the pres- 
ence and with the assistance of Drs. Hamilton, Agnew, Bliss, 
Barnes, AVoodward, Reyburn, Andrew H. Smith, of Elberon, and 
Acting Assistant Surgeon D. S. Lamb, of the Army Medical 
Museum, Washington. • 

The operation was performed by Dr. Lamb. 

It was found that the ball, after fracturing the right eleventh 
rib, had passed through the spinal column in front of the spinal 
canal, fracturing the body of the first lumbar vertebrae, driving a 
number of small fragments of bone into the adjacent soft parts, 
and lodging just below the pancreas, about two inches and a half 
to the left of the spine and behind the peritoneum, where it had 
become completely encysted. 

The immediate cause of death was secondary hemorrhage from 
one of the mesenteric arteries adjoining the track of the ball, the 
blood rupturing the peritoneum, and nearly a pint of blood es- 
caping into the abdominal cavity. 

This hemorrhage is believed to have been the cause of the 
severe pain in the lower part of the chest, complained of just 
before death. An abscess cavity, six inches by four in dimen- 
sions, was found in the vicinity of the gall bladder, between the 
liver and the transverse colon, which were strongly inter-adherent. 



THE MOTHER AND HER DEAD 80N. 198 

It (lid not involve the substance of tlie liver, and no communica- 
liun was found between it and tlie wound. 

A long sui)i)iiialing channel extended from the external wound 
between the loin muscles and the riuht kidney almost to the right 
groin. This channel, now kn )wn to be due to the burrowing of 
pus from the wound, vva3 supposed, durii.g life, to have been the 
track of the ball. 

Un examination of tlie organs of the chest, evidences of severe 
bronchitis were found on both sides, with broncho-pneumonia of 
the lower portions of the right lung, though of much less extent 
of the left. 

The lungs contained no abscesses and the heart no clots. The 
liver was enlarged and fatty, but free from abscesses; nor were 
any found in one other organ, except the left kidney, which con- 
tained near its surface a small abscess about one-third of an inch 
in diameter. In reviewing the history of the case in connection 
with the autopsy, it is quite evident that the different suppu- 
rating surfaces, and especially the fractured spongy tissue of the 
vertebra, furnish sufRcient explanation of the septic condition 

which existed. D. AV. Bliss, 

J. K. Bakxes, 
J. J. Woodward, 
KoBT. Reybukn, 
Fkank 11. Hamilton, 
D. IIayh:s Agnew. 
Ani>i;ew II. tJMiTU, 
1). !S. Lamb. 



The Mother and Her Dead Son. 

Mother Garfield, wlio was at Solon, Ohio, with her dangh- 
ter Mrs. Larrabee, watched anxiously for the 6 o'clock bul- 
letin Monday evening, feeling, if it was favorable, that she 
might hope on. AVorn out by anxious days and sleeplesa 
nights, her strength became so exhausted that the adminis- 
tration of stimulants was found necessary. Though hoping 
against hope, she could not realize that her son was in im- 

13 



104 THE MOTHER AND HER DEAD SON. 

mediate danger. " He will live," she said but yesterdaj. 
" God makes so few men like him that lie v(l\\ not take them 
away when they are living lives of usefulness. There are 
80 many who are of no use to any one who live on that 1 
cannot believe God will take my James away when he is 
much needed." 

Shortly after eight o'clock Tuesday morning Mrs. Gar- 
field arose, and after dressing, spent some time reading her 
Bible, as customary. Then she went into the dining-room 
where her breakfast was being prepared. Refreshed by a 
night of rest, she was more cheerful than for several days. 
Mr. Larrabee, unable to conceal his emotion, left the room 
in tears. Mother Garfield walked about, looking out of the 
windows. Finally she turned to her daughter, saying : " la 
there any news yet this morning, Mary ?" Mrs. Larra- 
bee's heart failed. She could not blast the hope expressed 
in that voice and exliibited in that dear old face. 

" Eat your breakfast, mother, it is ready now," she said. 

" But I want to hear from James first," said the loving 
mother. ■ 

The telegram that was soon to bring grief and anguish to 
her hopeful heart lay on the shelf, and seeing it she took it, 
and was about to read, saying, "Here it is now, I must read 
it before I eat." 

Her grand-daughter, Ellen Larrabee, fearing that so sud- 
den a shock would be fatal, took the dispatch from her hand, 
and said, " I will read it to you grandma. Are you pre- 
pared for bad news ?" 

" Why, no," said grandma, " I am not prepared for bad 
news, and there isn't any bad news this morning, is tliere ?" 

" Yes, grandma." 

"Oh, Nelly, he is not — he cannot be dead ?" 

"Grandma, his spirit passed away last night." 

" Oh, it cannot bo; it must not be. I cannot have it so. 



THE MOTHER AND HER DEAD SON. IM 

My James, my James dead ! I cannot believe you. I^et 
me see the dispatch." 

The dispatch read as tbllowB: 

" Elbeeon, N. J., Sept 19. 

** Mrs. Eliza Garfield : 

•' James died this evening at 10:68. He calmly breathed his lift 
away. •• D. G. Swaim." 

She took and read it, dropped the message on the floor, 
and fell backward into the chair, moaning and wringing her 
hands, and bitter tears coursing down her cheeks. For 
some time she gave way to uncontrollable grief, but at 
length subdued her feelings in a measure. 

Mother Garfield then said: " To-morrow I will be eighty 
years old, but I will not see the beginning of another year; 
James is gone, and I shall not be long after him." 

After that she succeeded in somewhat controllins- lier 
emotions until the arrival of James Palmer, husband of a 
grand-daughter now dead, a daughter of Mrs. Larrabee. 
When he entered she again burst into tears, and between 
Bobs repeated, over and over, in her anguish: " He is gone; 
he is gone. O. T cannot have it so." 

When the morning papei- arrived, although advised by 
her daughter not to read it. she insisted on it, and eagerly 
scanned the dispatches for awhile, and then, throwing it 
down, exclaimed, " 1 cannot read any more." 

Then she went to her room and laid down, but soon arose 
and requested a grand-daughter to i-ead to her further, 
listening with blinded eyes and a breaking heart, making 
noble efibrt to restrain her emotions. 

During the afternoon somebody remarked to her that it 
seemed very still to-day. 

"Still ?" responded she. *' Yes, but it is the stillness of 
death." 

Mr. Larrabee, the President's brother-in-law, said he had 
known James A. Garfield since he was three years old, and 



196 IN TUB FRANCKLYN COTTAGE. 

a(l<led: "One tiling ^'ivcs me slight comfort to-day — my be- 
lief lliHt lie was a sincere and earnest Christian if ever there 
WU8 one. 



In the Francklyn Cottage at Long Branch. 

At half past nine o'clock Chief Justice Waite, Secretary 
and ^Irs. Blaine, Secretary and Mrs. Windom, Secretary 
and Mrs. Hunt, Postmaster-General and Mrs. James, and 
Secretaries Lincoln and Kirkwood, and Attorney-General 
McVeajrh arrived at the Francklyn Cottage, and the doors 
were closed to visitors. Religious services were conducted 
by the Rev. Charles J. Young, of Long Branch, at the re- 
quest of Mrs. Garfield. There were present, besides the 
family and their attendants, members of the Cabinet, their 
wives, and a few personal friends, numbering in all not 
more than fifty. "When the moment for the services was 
announced, the windows and doors were closed, and the 
most solemn silence prevailed. 

''The Scripture reads," said the pastor, "Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord. Yea, saith the spirit, that they 
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow 
them." " We know that if our earthly house of this taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God — a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Therefore, 
we are also confident of knowing that whilst we are at home 
in the body we are absent from the Lord. "We are confi- 
dent, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the body, 
and to be present with the Lord. For me to live is Christ, 
and to die is gain. I am in the strait betwixt the two, 
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is 



IN THE FRANC KLTN COTTAGE. 107 

far better. There tlie wicked cease from trouljliiif,', and 
there the weary are at rest; and there sliall be no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying; neitlier shall there be any 
more pain; and there shall be no night there, and they 
need no candle, neither the light of the snn, for God giveth 
them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Behold, 
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we 
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, at the last trump. For this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is writ- 
ten: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is 
thy sting? O grave, W'here is tliy victory? The sting of 
death is sin; the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be 
to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesufl 
Christ. Let us pray. 

THE PRAYER. 

O, Thou, who walked through the grave of Bethany — 
that open grave of the brother in Bethany! O, Thou, who 
hadst compassion on the widow of Nain — she bore her be- 
loved dead! (), Thou, who art the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever; in whom is no variableness nor shadow of 
turning! have mercy upon us in this hour, when our souls 
have nowhere else to fly. But we fly to Thee. Thou 
knowest these sorrows that we bow under. O, Thou God 
of the widow, help the stricken heart before Thee. Help 
these children, and those that are not here. Be their father. 
Help her in the distant State who watched over him in 
childhood. Help this Nation that is to-day bleeding and 
bowed in sorrow before Thee. Oh, sanctify tliis heavy 
chastisement to its good. Help those associated with him 



198 THE BODY IN iSTATE AT WASHINGTON. 

in the Government. O Lord, grant from the darkness of 
tliis niglit of sorrow there may arise a better day for the 
glory of God and the good of man. We thank Thee for the 
record of life that is closed; for its heroic devotion to prin- 
ciple. ^Ve thank Thee, O Lord, that he was Thy servant; 
that he preached Thee by a noble life and example, and 
that we can say of him now, '' Blcs.sed are tlie dead who die 
in the Lord; their works do follow them." Now, Lord, go 
with this sorrowing company in this last sad journey. 
Bear them up and strengthen them. O -God, bring us all 
at last to the morning that has no shadows; the house that 
hari no tears; the land that has no death; for Christ's sake. 
Amen." 



The Body in State in the Rotunda at Washington. 

The day was very warm, and the sun poured down with- 
out mercy on those who stood in the line vvaiting their turn 
to enter the rotunda. By 1 o'clock the double line was 
over half a mile long. From the door of the rotunda two 
ropes extended across the porch and foi-raed a passageway 
beginning a hundred feet from the foot of the steps. From 
this point the line continued in a serpentine course, zigzag- 
ging back and forth, until it reached a street, and then ran 
from First to Second streets. By reason of the curious wind- 
ing form of this closely packed double column, its actual 
length was more than twice that of the distance in a direct 
line which was covered. As the crowds continued to arrive, 
they either took their places at the end of the line as it 
moved slowly ahjng, or formed ])art of the great multitude 
of onlookers who, on account of the great length of the line, 
had despaired of entering it. 



THE BODY IN STATE AT WASHINGTON. 109 

It was a motley tlironor. More than lialf of tliose who 
stood here for hours and reached the Capitol by plow shuf- 
fling steps over the asphalt, were black. 

There were men, women, children, and infants in arras, 
the inlirm and aged cripples from the war, some of them 
wearing badges of service, and ladies in Swiss muslin 
dresses, and young girls in pretty costumes, along with 
ragged street urchins and a few tramps. The weak and 
crippled old darkies in whose laces reverence and awe were 
expressed, hobbled on crutches and canes with difficulty up 
the broad marble steps. 

The sight of their sincere mourning was pathetic. There 
was no levity, and but little conversation as the patient 
line dragged its slow length along. Those who early in 
the morning started at the extremity of the line did not 
reach the rotunda until three weary hours later, and yet 
they moved along up the steps of the Capitol at the rate of 
6,000 persons an hour, and this was continued from very 
early in the morning all through the hot daj'. 

It is believed that over one hundred thousand persons 
viewed the remains of the late President while they lay in 
the rotunda. 

A short time before the coflBn was closed, Mrs. Secretary 
Blaine and Mrs. Secretary "Windom entered the rotunda 
and viewed the remains. Both were shocked at the change, 
and suggested to the gentlemen composing the guard of 
honor that the casket be closed at once. This, they re- 
plied, could not be done without an order from the Cabinet. 
In a short time the order came. Two thousand were in 
line, and for half an hour they continued to pass the bier 
before it became generally known among the thiong out- 
side that the face could no longer be seen. When the coffin 
lid was closed the beautiful floral offering of Queen Victoria 
was placed above it. 



200 SEIiVlCES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 
Services at the Vc.ult in Cleveland. 

THE SCENE. 

Tlie State militia were stationed at the entrance to tlie 
cemetery and on eitlier side of the driveways leading to tho 
vault. The steps leading to the vault were carpeted with 
flowers, and on either side of the cittrance were an anclior 
of tuheroses and a cross, while sniilax and evergreens were 
festooned above. A heavy black canopy was stretched over 
the steps from which the exercises wei*e to be conducted. 
At 3:30 o'clock the ])rocession entered the gateway, which 
was arched over with black, with appropriate inscri])tion8. 
In the keystone were the words: " Come to rest." On one 
Bide were the words: "Lay him to rest whom we have 
learned to love." On the other: "Lay him to rest whom 
we have learned to trust." A massive cross of evergreens 
•wung from the centre of the arch. 

The United States Marine Band, continuing the sweet 
mournful strains it had ke)")t up during the entire march, 
entered first. Then came the Forest City Troop, of Cleve- 
land, which was the escort of the President to his inaugura- 
tion, lieliind it Ciime the funeral car with its escorts of 
twelve United States artillerymen, followed by a battalion 
of Knights Templar and the Cleveland Grays. The 
mourners' carriages and those containing the guard of 
honor comprised all of the ])rocession that entered the 
grounds. The cavalrj' halted at the vault and drew up in 
line, facing it with sabi-es ])resented. 

At 3:30 the great funeral car drawn to the front and a 
little beyond the vault. The twelve black horses, covered 
with heavy fitlds of black drapery move so slowly that tho 
tread of their feet can hardly be heard, and the wheels of 
the huge somber cab pass noiselessly over the soft road- 
way. 



8ER VICES AT THE VA ULT IN CL E 1 'EL A iV I). 201 

All that is left now to complete the final act of tlic ^reat 
tragedy occupies but twenty-five inijiutes, and tlu3 scune is 
as solemnly sad as the burial of the great dead must l>c, hut 
fitly. It happens that no manifestations of violent grief 
disturb the last scene in the burial of this pure and gentle 
man. 

The carriage, which carries on one seat, side by side, the 
mother and the wife of the President, and on the front seat 
three of his boys, Harry, Jimmie, and the little Abram, is 
drawn up on the carpet of flowers at the very door of the 
vault. Ilarry and Jimmie, the two older boys, get out and 
stand upon either side of the carriage doorway, with faces 
that are so white as to startle those who look upon them. 
They remain motionless as they watch the coflin of their 
father carried to its resting-place. Mrs. Garfield takes the 
vacant scat, and side by side the face of the grand old 
mother and the brave wife are seen in the open doOi-way of 
the carriage. As the military escort lifts the coffin from 
the car the band play "Nearer My God to Thee.*' They 
watch with strained eyes the passage of the body to the 
tomb and until it is lost to sight within, when Mi'S. Gar- 
field drops her veil and sinks back u])on her seat, but the 
old mother still watches at the window, and her beautiful 
but calm, sweet face, is a picture there which the people 
watch in loving, sympathetic interest until the benediction 
is pronounced. 

After the body is laid upon its bower of roses, the pall- 
bearers range themselves upon each side of the raised en- 
trance to the vault. Behind them upon the right Mr, 
Blaine stands, with a few Senators and others who were in 
the near carriages. In front of this line Swaim, Rockwell, 
and Corbin stand, nearest Marshal Henry, who is one of the 
pall-bearers. Harry and Jimmie leave their mother's car- 
riage and remain near theifi. On the other side, behind the 



202 SERVICES AT THE VAULT [N CLEVELAND. 

'opposite line of pull-bearer>*, Hinsdale, Errett, and Jones 
are seen, while on the lower ground to the right C. O 
Rockwell and wife, Mrs. Garfield's sister, and Dr. Boynton 
take position. The rest of the relatives and friends remain 
in their carriages under the drizzling rain. From one of 
them, near Mrs. Garfield, the calm, restful face of her 
father, Uncle Zeb Rudolph, can be seen. 

The ceremonies which followed were of the briefest kind. 
It is a subject of congratulation among all that the last mo- 
ments at the cemetery were so quiet and full of gentle silence. 
It was not to Mrs. Garfield the burial of her husband. 
Sometime she will bui-y him, when he shall be taken from 
the vault, and unattended by pomp or the presence of the 
curious multitude, and laid in his last resting place. She 
only saw him laid upon a bed of flowers, to stop a little 
longer before he is laid on the high hill near by that she 
has chosen for the long rest. 

J. H. Robinson, as President of the day, opened the ex- 
ercises by introducing the Rev, J, H. Jones, Chaplain of 
the Forty- second Regiment O. Y. Infantry, which General 
Garfield commanded, as follows: "The Rev. J. H.Jones, 
the Chaplain of the Forty-second Regiment, who Went out 
with General Garfield, will ofter some remarks." Mr. 
Jones said: 

THE chaplain's ADDRESS. 

Our illustrious friend has completed his journey's end, a 
journey that we must all soon make, and that in the near 
future; yet, when I see the grand surroundings of this oc- 
casion I am led to enquire was this man the son of an 
emperor, of the king that wore a crown, for in the history 
of this great country there has been nothing like this seen 
by the people, and perhaps no other country. Yet I 
thought, perhaps, speaking after the manner of men, that 



SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 203 

he was a prince, and this was ottered in a manner after 
royalty. 

He was not, my friends. It is not an ottering of a king, 
it is not as we are taught an ottering to earthly kings and 
emperors. Though he was a prince and a freeman, the 
great commoner of the United States, only a few miles from 
where we stand, less than fifty years ago, he was born in the 
primeval forests of this State and in tliis county, and all 
he asks of you now is a peaceful grave in the bosom of the 
land that gave him birth. 

I cannot speak to you of his wonderful life and his work. 
Time forbids and history will take care of that, and your 
children's children will read of this emotion when we have 
passed away from this earth, but let me say when I was 
permitted with these honorable men to go to Pittsburg as 
a committee to receive his mortal remains, I saw from that 
city to Cleveland hundreds and thousands of people, and 
many of them in tears, and this reflection came to me, that 
there was a dearth over the lands. The soil for 500 miles 
was moistened witli tears, as we passed from the city of 
Washington to Cleveland. Then I asked myself the mean- 
ing of all this, for I saw the workingmeii come out of the 
rolling-mills, with dust and smoke all over their faces, their 
heads uncovered, with the tears rolling down their brawny 
cheeks. 

With bated breath I asked: What is the meaning of all 
this? because it casts down a workinginan. He was a 
workingraan himself, for he has been a worker from his 
birth almost. He has fought his way through life at every 
step, and the workingman he took by the hand, and there 
was sympathy and brotherhood between them. I saw, in 
small cottages as well as in splei'did mansions, drapings on 
the shutters, and may have been the only vail which the poor 
woman had, and with tears in her eyes she saw us pass. I 



204 SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 

asked. Why, what interest has this poor woman in this 
man? She liad read that he was born in a cabin, and that 
when he got old enougli to work in the beech woods he 
helped to support his widowed mother. 

Tlien I saw the processions and the colleges pour out. 
The local professions attended, and there were civic societiea 
and military all concentrated here, and he has touched them 
all in his passage thus far through life, and you feel that 
he is a brother. lie is, therefore, a brother to you in all 
these regards, but when a man dies his work usually fol- 
lows him. When we sent General Garfield to the Capitol 
at Washington he weighed 210 pounds. He had a soul 
that loved his race; a splendid intellect that almost bent 
the largest form to bear it. You bring him back to us a 
mere handful of some eiijhty pounds, mostly of bones, in 
that casket. 

Now, I ask you why is this? I do not stop to talk about 
the man that did the deed. " Vengeance is mine, saith 
the Almighty God; T will repay." He sees the terrors of 
a scaffold before him, probably, and the eternal disgrace 
that falls to the murderer and the assassin, and he is going 
down to the judgment of God and the frowns of the world. 

But where is James A. Garfield that we lent to you 
seven months ago? Many of you were there at the time of 
his inauguration, and witnessed the grandest pageant that 
ever passed in front of the Capitol, and the grandest that 
was ever had in the iVation was had on that occasion, and 
now comes that unwelcome but splendid exhibition that 
will be read of all over the world with regret. For Secre- 
tary Blaine, in a business-like manner, to-day made out 
that there were at least oOO,000,000 of people of the world 
mourninsr the death of President Garfield and offerinor us 
sympathy. Hut where is ho? Here is all that is left of 
him, tlic grand, the bright, and brilliant man. Now that 



SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 205 

Bonl tnat lOved, that mind that thought, and has impressed 
itself upon tlie world, must come back, for if thoughts live 
will that precious thought cease to be dead. In reason he 
epeaks and in example lives. His thoughts and mighty 
deeds still flourish in structure. We shall get him back, 
fellow citizens. 

In conversation with the one nearest and dearest to him, 
she said, when she thought of his relations as a husband 
and as a son and as a statesman, having reached the highest 
pinnacle to which man can be elevated by the free suffrage 
of our 50,000,000 people, there was no promotion tor her 
beloved but for God to call him home. He has received 
that promotion. 

He believed in the immortality, not only of the soul, but 
of the body and that the grave will give up the dead. He 
must live, and, my friends, that was the hope that sustained 
him. I was with him in the war, and the enemy never saw 
his back. He was fortunate in that every contest he was 
on the victorious side, but the grandest fight he ever made 
was in the last eighty days of his existence, fought not be- 
cause he himself personally expected to live, but the doc- 
tors told him to hope. 

He loved his wife and children, and he hoped. " I am 
not afraid to die, but I will try," said he, " to live," and 
then he was not conquered even except by simple exhaus- 
tion. It seems to me that no good man by the name of 
Abraham can be the President of the United States and 
can be long out of Abraham's bosom, for both of them have 
been called, and early, too, to the paradise of God, and his 
epirit looks down upon us to-day, and he is in the society 
of "Washington and Lincoln and the immortal hosts of pat- 
riots that stood for their country. 

Let me say, in conclusion, there was a man in ancient 
Biblical history that killed more in his death than he did 



206 SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 

in his life, and I believe that to be true with James Abram 
Garfield, I doubt whether there is a page that equals this 
in sympathy and love, not only in this country, but all 
over the world. Have you ever read anything like this. 
You, brethren, here of the South, I greet you to-day, and 
you brethren of the North, East, and West. Come, let us 
lay all our bitterness up in the coffin of the dead man. Let 
him carry them with him to the grave in silence, till the 
anorels disturb the slumbers. Let us love each other more, 
our country better. May God bless you and the dear fam- 
ily, and, as they constitute a great family on earth, I hope 
they will constitute a great family in the kingdom of God, 
and where I hope to meet you all in the end. 

At tlie close of Jones' address the venerable Dr. RobiBu 
son announced that the hymn which was General Garfield's 
favorite, '' Ho, Reapers of Life's Harvest," would be sung, 
and, as the melody of the grand old song rings and echoes 
among the forests and hills, it falls upon the ears of all. 

gakfield's favorite hymn. 
Ho, reapers of life's liarvest, 

Why stand with rusted blade 
Until the night draws round thee 

And the day begins to fade? 

Why stand yeidle waiting 

For reapers more to come? 
The golden morn is passing, 

Why sit ye idle, dumb? 

Thrust in your sharpened sickle 

And gather in the grain; 
The night is fast approaching 

And noon will come again. 

The Master calls for reapers. 

And shall he call in vain? 
Shall sheaves lie there ungathered 

And waste upon the plain? 



SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 207 

Mount up the heights of wisdom 

And crush each error low ; 
Keep back no words of knowledge 

That human hearts should know. 

Be faithful to thy mission 

In service of thy Lord. 
And then a golden chaplet 

Shall be thy just reward. 

Once during Chaplain Jones' address, and in the midst 
of his masterly review of the march of the dead from the 
lo^ cabin to the Presidency, the face of Mrs. Garfield 
appeared at the window by the side of the mother of 
Garfield, and both looked, with calm, clear eyes, upon the 
speaker as he told the story of their hero's achievements. 

The Latin Ode from Horace was then sung as follows, 
by the United German Society: 

Integer vitae scelerisque purus 
Non eget Mauris juculis neque area. 
Nee venenatis gravida.sagittis, 

Fusee, pharetra, 
Sive per Syrtes iter aestuosas, 
Sive facturus per inhospitalem 
Caucasum, vel quae loca fabulosus 

Lambit Hydaspes. 
Namque me silva lupus in Sabina, 
Dum meum canto Lalagen et ultra 
Terminum curis vagor expeditis, 

Fugit inermem: 
Quale portentum neque militaris 
Daunias latis alit aesculetis, 
I Nee Jubae tellus generat, leonum 

Arida nutrix. 
Pone me pigris ubi nulle campis 
Arbor aestiva recreatur aura, 
Quod latus mundi nubulae malusque 

Jupiter urget. 
Pone sub curru niniium propinqui 
Solis, in terra domibus negata; 
Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, 
Dulce loquentem. 



208 SERVICES AT THE VAULT IN CLEVELAND. 

Tlie followiiif^ is a literal translation of the ode: 

The mail of ui)riglit life and pure from wickedness, O Fuscus 
has no need of the Aloorish javelins or bow, or quiver loaded with 
poisoned darts. Whether he is about to make his journey through 
the sultry Syrtes or the inhospitable Caucasus, or those places 
which Ilydaspes, celebrated in story, washes. For lately, as I was 
singinf? my Lalage, and wandered beyond my usual bounds, devoid 
of care, a wolf in the Sabine wood tied from me, though 1 was 
unarmed ; such a monster as neither the warlike Apulia nourishes 
in its extensive woods, nor the land of Juba, the dry nurse of 
lions, produces. Place me in those barren plains, where no tree 
is refreshed by the genial air; at that part of the world which 
clouds and an inclement atmosphere infest. Place me under the 
chariot of the too-neighboring sun, in the land deprived of habita- 
tion, there will I love my sweetly-smiling, sweetly-speaking 
Lala$):e. 

Mr. Robinson then announced the late President's hymn, 
" Ho, Reapers of Life's Harvest," which the German vocal 
societies of Cleveland sang with marked effect. 

The exercises closed with the benediction by President 
Hinsdale, of Hiram College, who was introduced by Dr. 
Robinson, as follows: " Friends and Fellow-Citizens: From 
the heart-broken friends of the deceased, I tender you their 
thanks. Mr. Hinsdale, will you dismiss?" 

Mr. Hinsdale said: 

" Oh, God, the sole experience of this day teaches us the 
truth of what Thou hast told us in Thy word. The grave 
is the last of the world and the end of life. Earth to 
earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. But we love the doc- 
trine of the immortality of the soul, and in the power of 
the endless life therefrom. Oh God, our Father, we look 
to Thee now for the greatest blessing. We pray that the 
fellowship and salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ our 
Savior, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Con? 
forter, may be with all \vho have been in to-day's assembly. 
Amen." 

The tinal dirge is sung, and friends and relatives standing 



THE END. 209 

by move nearer to the sepulchre. Blaine steps nervously 
to the very door of the vault, and his white face is pitiful 
evidence of the agony of that moment, while he looks for 
the last time U|jon even the casket which contains the, 
remains of him who was both friend and chief. Mrs. 
Garfield does not look from the carriage; perhaps she finds 
comfort there in thoughts of the quieter, more secluded 
Lour, when she, instead of the Nation, shall bnry the man 
80 beloved. 

At rest at last — the hymn is done, the melody is hushed, 
the doors of the vault are noiselessly closed. President 
Burke Hinsdale reaches out his hands in final invocation 
for Divine support and pity, and it is the end. 



The End. 



J. G. HOLLAND. 



A wasp flew out upon our fairest son 

And stung him to the quick with poisoned shaft; 

The while he chatted carelessly and laughed, 

And knew not of the fateful raiscliief done. 

And so this life, amid our love begun. 

Envenomed by the insect's hellish craft, 

Was drunk by death in one long, feverish draughty 

And he was lost— our gracious, priceless onel 

Oh, mystery of blind, remorseless fate! 

Oh, cruel and of a most causeless hate! 

That life so mean should murder life so great! 

What is there left to us who think and feel. 

Who have no remedy and no appeal. 

But damn the wasp and crush him under heel? 



210 THE WORLD WTDE SYMPATHY. 

The World Wide Sympathy. 
It may be safely said that the death of rresidcnt Garfield 
called forth a greater expression of sympathy from the 
great rulers and nations of the earth, from eminent persons, 
and from the various fraternities and associations of men, 
than the death of any other man. And this is not only an 
evidence ot the great worth of the man, but also an evidence 
of a progressive civilization. It is estimated that over 
300,000,000 persons mourned the death of James A. Gar- 
field. The following are a few of the dispatches of a)ndo- 
lence- 

QUEEN VICTORIA TO MRS. GARFIELD. 

Words cannot exi)ress the deep sympathy I feel with you. May 
God support and comfort you, as He alone can. 

The Queen, Balmoral. 

The Queen also cabled at once to the British Minister to 
have a floral tribute prepared and presented in her name. 
It was soon received at the Capitol and placed at the head ot 
the bier of the President. It was very 'arge, and was an ex- 
quisite specimen of the florist's art. It was composed of 
white roses, smilax, and stephanotis. It was accompanied 
by a mourniTig card bearing the following inscription: 
'• Queen Victoria, to the memory of the late President 
Garfield — an expression of her sorrow and sympathy with 
Mrs. Garfield and the American Nation. Sept. 22, 1881.'' 

GEN. GRANT. 

New Vork, Sept. \9.— Wayne MacVeagh^ Long Branch: 
Please convey to the bereaved family of the President my heart- 
felt sympathy and sorrow for them in tiieir deep adliction. A 
nation will mourn with them for the loss of tlie Ciiief Magistrate 
so recently called to preside over its destiny. I will return to 
Long IJranch in the morning to tender my services, if they can bo 
Tiade useful. ■ U. ». Grant. 



AFFECTING INCIDENTS. 211 

Affecting Incidents. 

" I AVANT TO SHE MYSELF." 

After a rigor had passed the President fell asleep, and 
although his pulse was still beating about 120, yet hia 
temperature had not decreased more than a tenth of a 
degree or so below the normal point. He awoke in about 
twenty minutes and said to I))-. J>liss, 

" Doctor, I feel very comfortable, but I also feel dread- 
fully weak. I wish you would give me the hand-glass and 
let me look at myself.'" 

Gen. Swaim said, "Oh no, don't do that. General. See 
if you cannot get some slee])." 

" I want to see myself," the President replied. 

Mrs. Garfield then gave him the hand-glass. He held it 
in a position which enabled him to see his face. Mrs. 
Garfield, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Agnew, Gen. Swaim and Dr. Boyn- 
ton stood around the bed, saying not a word, but looking 
at the President. He studied the reflection of his own 
features. At length he wearily let the glass fall upon the 
counterpane, and with a sigh, said to Mrs. Garfield: 

" Crete, I do not see how it is that a man who looks as 
well as I do should be so dreadfully weak." 

"little mollie fell over like a loo." , 

In a moment or two he asked for his daughter Mollie. 
They told him that she would come to see him later in the 
day. He said, however, that he wanted to see her at once. 
Thereupon Don Rockwell went to the beach, where Miss 
Mollie was sitting with Miss Rockwell, and told her that 
her father wanted to see her. When the child went into 



ns AFFECTING INCIDENTS. 

the room she kissed her father and told him that she was 
glad to see that he was looking so )T)uch better. 

He said, "You think I do look better, Mollie ?" 

Siie said, "I do, papa," and then she took a chair and sat 
near the foot of the bed. 

A moment or two after Dr. Bo3'nton noticed that she was 
Bwajiiig in the chair. He stepped up to her, but before he 
could reach her she had fallen over in a dead faint In 
falling, her face struck against the bed ])ost, and when they 
raised her from the floor she was not only unconscious, but 
also bleeding from the contusion she had received. They 
carried her out where she could get the fresh breeze from 
the ocean, and after restoratives were applied she speedily 
recovered. The room was close, the windows were closed, 
and Miss Mollie had not been very well, and all these causes 
combined with anxiety, induced the fainting fit. 

The President, they thought, had not noticed what had 
happened to his petted child, for he seemed to have t^;iiik 
into the stupor which has characterized his condition much 
of the time. But when Dr. Boynton came back into the 
room he was astonished to hear the President say: 

*' Poor little Mollie; she fell over like a log. What's the 
matter ? " 

They assured the President that the fainting fit was 
caused by the closeness of the room, and that she was quite 
restored. He again sank into a stupor, or sleep, which 
lasted until the noon examination. This stupor was not 
healthy sleep. The President frequently muttered and 
rolled and tossed his head upon the pillow. 



GARFIELD'S BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY LIFE. 21S 

Garfield's Birthplace— How It Looked on the Great Day of 

the Funeral— Interesting Incidents in Garfield's 

Early Life. 

I Written by one of Garfield's most Intimate Friends, at Orange, Ohlo.1 

Here, at the birth-place of Garfield, what memories 
sweep over ns when we recall the scenes of his birth and 
boyhood! On the place where stood the log hut in which 
he iirst saw the light is a pole floating a flag at halt-mast. 
The old log house is gone, the frame house that succeeded 
it is gone, and now all that marks the spot where James 
A. Garfield was born, fifty years ago, is a whitewood pole 
rising from the green fields. All around are the groves and 
fields in which the farmer's boy began that noble history 
which is ended so abruptly, so cruelly. 

Here he was born, here he worked in the field by day and 
studied by night, here stood the log school house where he 
first attended school. It is gone now, and a brick one 
stands in its place, but it will never be forgotten, for " Gar- 
field went there first to school." 

THE FEIEND OF HIS BOYHOOD. 

Next to the field in which the national colors now sadly 
wave is the farm of Mr. Henry Boynton, Garfield's cousin, 
and a brother ot Dr. Boynton. He was more than a cousin. 
While their mothers were sisters and their fathers half- 
brothers, there was another tie that bound them more close- 
ly than the bonds of kinship. Amos Boynton was all to 
Garfield that a father could be after the death of his father, 
when James was but over a year of age. Heniy Boynton 
and James A. Garfield were all to each other that brothers 
could be. 



214 ' GARFIELD'S BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY LIFE. 

Mr. Buyntun was found at his home in the afternoon, 
and althougli much affected by the tragic death of the loved 
com]mnion of his boyhood, seemed to be pleased to relate 
incidents of his early life. 

Mr. Boynton said: James and I were constant compan- 
ions from the time that he was old enough to talk, down to 
the time that he went into active political life. I kn'ow, 
perhaps, more of his boyhood and early manhood than any 
person. In our boyhood we were said •to bear a striking 
resemblance to each other. 

HIS EAKLY LIFE. 

James was always noted from his earliest childhood for 
his desire to be the leader in whatever he undertook. At 
school he was never satisfied to have another boy ahead of 
him, but would strain every nerve to overtake and pass one 
who seemed to have the advantage of him, and always suc- 
ceeded in doing so. He always managed to be the leader, 
in every circle, whether it was social, intellectual or moral. 
He first w^ent to school at the little log school house which 
stood where you now see yonder brick school building. He 
then worked mornings and nights and attended school 
through the day. One little incident I never shall forget. 
There was a spelling match in the little log school house in 
wliich James, who was thirteen years old, took part. The 
teacher told her scholars that if any whispered she would 
send them home. The lad standing next to James became 
•onfused, and to help him, James told him how to spell his 
word. The teacher saw this and said: 

" James, you know the rule. You must go home." 
James picked uj) his cap and left. In a very few second* 
be returned and took his place in the class. 



GARFIELD'S BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY LIFE. 215 

"Why, how is this, James? I told you to go home," 
said the teaclier. 

" I know it, and went home," said James. 

BEGINNING AS A FARM HAND. 

When fourteen years old he began working as a farm 
laborer for Mr. Daniel Morse, who lived near here. While 
working here, he one evening remained in the sitting room 
to listen to the conversation of a young gentleman who had 
called on Miss Morse. Miss Morse, observing him, told 
him it was time for servants to go to bed. This galled his 
aensitive feelings, and the next day he left there, telling me 
that some day he would show them that he was not to be 
looked down upon. 

ON THE OANAL. 

He now went to work on the canal, with Captain Letcher 
for a master. Soon after starting at this work he whipped 
the burly Irishman, Murphy, as you have heard many times, 
I suppose. An incident occurred one night which showed 
kia innate love of justice. One night when approaching a 
lock he was called on by the captain to help light the crew 
of another boat, which had reached the lock at nearly the 
same time, for the first use of it. 

"Who has the right to it?" asked James, as he prepared 
for action. 

" Well, I guess they have, but we can lick them and get 
ii,'' said the captain. 

James drew on his coat again, and said: " No, sir; I 
won't help if it justly belongs to them." 

He staid on the canal but a short time, as he suffered a 
severe attack of fever and ague, which obliged him to re- 
tam home. All winter he staid at home, shaking with 



216 ASSASSINATION RECORD OF RULERS. 

ague chills, but studying all the time. Between his chills 
he would ijoover to the school house and recite, and at the 
end of the term stood at the head of the class. In the 
spring he intended to return to the canal, but by the argu- 
ments and advice of Mr. Bates, his teacher, was persuaded 
to give up this idea and attend school. 



Assassinacion Record of Rulers for the Last Thirty Years. 

The following is a list of attempts upon the lives of rul- 
ers since 1848: 

1848— Nov. 26— The life of the Duke of Modena waa 
attempted. 

1849 — June 21 — The Crown Prince of Prussia was at- 
tacked at Minden. 

1850 — June 28 — Robert Pate, an ex-Lieutenant in the 
army, attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria. 

1851 — May 22 — Sefeloque, a workman, shot at Frederick 
William IV., King of Prussia, and broke his arm. 

1852— Sept. 24 — An infernal machine was found at Mar- 
seilles, with which it had been intended to destroy Napo- 
leon HI. 

1853 — Feb. 18 — The Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria 
was grievously wounded in the head while walking on the 
ramparts at Vienna, l)y a Hungarian tailor named L'bzens. 

1853 — April If! — An attempt on the life ol Victor Em- 
manuel was reported to the Italian Chamber. 

1853 — July 5 — An attempt was made to kill Nai.oleon 
III. as he was entering the Opera Comique. 

1854— March 20— Ferdinand Charles III., Du>c of 
Parma, was killed by an unknown man, who stabbed him 
in the abdomen. 

1855 — April 28 — Napoleon III. was fired at iv **he 



FOR THE LAST THIRTY YE A 11^. 217 

Champs Elysees by Giovunni Pianeri. ^ 

1855 — April 28 — llaymond Fuentes was arrested in the 
act ofiiring on Isabella, Queen of Spain. 

1856— Dec. 8— Agesilas Milano, a soldier, stabbed Fer- 
dinand III. of Naples with his bayonet. 

1857_Ang. T— Napoleon 111. again. Barcoletti, Gib- 
aldi, and Grillo were sentenced to death for coining from 
London to assassinate him. 

1858— Jan. 14— Napoleon 111. for the fifth time. Orsini 
and liis as^^ociates threw fnlminating bombs at him as he 
was on his way to the opera. 

1861 — July 14 — King William of Prussia was for the 
first time shot at, by Oscar Becker, a student of Baden- 
Baden. Becker fired twice at him, but missed him. 

1861 — Dec. 18— A student named Dossios fired a pistol 
at queen Amalia of Greece (Princess of Oldenburg) at 
Athens. 

1863 — Dec. 24. — Four more conspirators from London 
against the life of Napoleon III. were arrested at Paris. 

1865 — April 14 — President Lincoln was shot by J. 
Wilkes Booth. 

1866 — April 6 — A liussian named Kavarasofi"'attempted 
Czar Alexander's life at St. Petersburg. He was foiled by 
a peasant, who was ennobled for the deed. 

1867— The Czar's life was again attempted during the 
great Exposition, at a review in the Bois de Boulogne, at 
Paris. 

1867 — June 19 — Maximilian shot. 

1868— June 10 — Prince Michael of Servia was killed by 
the brothers Radwarowitch. 

1871 — The lite of Amadeus, then newly king of Spain, 
was attempted. 

1872 — August — Col. Gutieriez assassinated President 
Balla, of the Republic of Peru. 



218 ASSAHSINATIGN RECORD OF RULERS 

1873 — Jan. 1 President Morales, of Bolivia, was assafi- 
sinated 

1875- August — President Garcia Maeno, of Ecuador, 
was assussiuHtt'd. 

1877 — June — President Gill, of Paraguay, was assassin- 
ated by Comuiander Molas. 

1878 — May 11 — The Erajjeror William, of Germany, was 
shot at again, this time by Emile Henri Max Hoedel, alias 
Lehmann, the Socialist. Lehman fired three shots at the 
Emperor, who was returning from a drive with the Grand 
Duchess of Baden, but missed him, 

1878— June 2 — Emperor William shot at by Dr. Nobil- 
ing, while out riding, fie received about thirty small shots 
in the neck and face. 

1878 — April 14 — Attempted assasination of the Czar at 
8t. Petersburg, by one Solojew. He was executed May 9. 

1870 — Dec. 1 — ^The assassination of the Czar attempted 
by a mine under a train near Moscow. 

1879 — Dec. 30 — The King of Spain was shot at while 
driving with the Queen. 

1880 — Feb. 17 — Attempt to kill the Royal family of Rus- 
sia by blowing up the Winter Palace. Eight soldiers killed 
and forty-five wounded. 

1881— March 14— The Czar killed by a bomb. 

1881— July 2— President Garfield shot by C.J. Guiteau, 
an eccentric lawyer of doubtful sanity, who is said to have 
been born at Freeport, 111., and who was licensed at the bar 
in Chicago. 



ASSASSINATION 

OF 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



The attempted assassination of Gen. Garfield naturally 
recalls the assassination of President Lincoln, and will go 
down to posterity allied to that terrible event. The par- 
ticulars of that dreadful tragedy are as follows: 

It was on the evening of Friday, April 14, ISGo, that President 
and Mrs. Lincohi, with Miss Mary Harris and Maj. llalhbun, of 
Albany, son-in-law of .Senator Harris, visited Ford's Theatre, at 
Washington, for the purpose of witnessing "The American 
Cousin," which was running at the theatre. The fact that this 
distinguished party was to be present at the performance had 
been duly announced in all the local papers, and the tlieatre was 
denselycrowded. The Presidential party occupied a box on the 
second tier. The scene was a brilliant one, and all went merry 
with the audience and actors alike until the close of the third act, 
when the shari> report of a pistol was heard, and an instant after- 
ward a man was seen to spring from the President's box to the 
stage, where, striking a tragic attitude and brandishing a long dag- 
ger in his ri.uht hand, he cried out, "Sic semper tyrannis!" and 
then, amid the bewilderment of the audience, rushed through the 
opposite side of the stage and nuide his escape from the rear of 
the tlieutre. The screams of :Mrs. Lincoln told the audience but 
too plainly that the President had been shot. All present rose to 
their feet, and the excitement was of the wildest possible descrip- 
tion. A rush was made to the President's box, where, on a hasty 
examination being made, it was found he was shot through the 
head. The President Avas quickly removed to a private house 
opposite the theatre, where, on further examination, his wound 
was pronounced to be mortal. This tragic occurrence, of course, 
immediately put a stop to the performance, and the theatre was 
closed as quickly as possible. The assassin in his hurried flighty 
dropped his hat and a spur on the stage. The hat was identified 
as belonging to J. Wilkes Booth, a prominent actor, and the spur 
was recognized as one ()l)tained by him at a stable on that day. 
One or two of the actors and members of the orchestra declared. 

219 



220 ASSASSINATION OF 

that the assassin was no other than Wilkes Booth, and the evi- 
dence aluiosL niouientaiily accuniuhuing lixed hiui beyond doubt 
as the author of tlie bloody tragedy. Almost before the audience 
had left the theatre it was known that the assasin, after he got 
out, made his escape on horseback. 

SECRETAUY SEWARD'S ESCAPE. 

The news of the hideous tragedy spread like wild-fire, and the 
greatest excitement prevailed throughout the city, dense throngs 
of peoi)le congregating in the locality of the house where Presi- 
dent Lincoln was lying. AVhile the general excitement w;ia at its 
lieight, it became known that an attempt had been made to assas- 
sinate Mr. JSeward, Secretary of State. At about 10 o'clock a maa 
called at the Secretary's house, stating that he had been sent by 
the family physician with a prescription for the Secretary, who 
was sick, at tlie same time staling that he must see him person- 
ally, as he was iustruuted to give particular directions con- 
cerning the medicine. He pushed his way past the servant, who 
had told him Secretary Seward could not be seen, and rushed up 
stairs to Mr. Seward's room, where he was met by the Secretary's 
son, Mr. Fred. Seward, who said he would take charge of the med- 
icine. The man dealt him a heavy blow, and rushing past him 
into Secretary Sewiu'd's room, sprang upon the Secretary as he lay 
in bed and stabbed him several times in the neck and breast. Miy. 
Seward, another of tlie Secretary's sons, rushed to his father's as- 
sistance, and got badly cut in a tussle with trie rufllan, who after 
a hard struggle managed to escape from the house, and mounting 
the horse he had left at the door, galloped off, shouting out, "Sic 
semper tijrannis." Surgeon General Barnes was immediately sent 
for, and i)ronounced the Secretary's and Maj. Seward's wounds not 
fatal, but the injuries which the desperado had indicted on Fred- 
erick SewartI and the servant of the house were considered more 
serious. AVhen it was known that Secretary Seward was not dan- 
gerously wounded, the geiu'ral anxiety was centered on President 
Lincoln, and while the scene in the streets was one of the wildest 
excitement and confusion, within tlie cliamber wliere President 
Lincoln was lying all was sadness and stillness. Several nuMubera 
of the cabinet had hastened to his side. Medical and snrgical aid 
were ol)tained, and everything was done to relieve the suffering 
President. It was soon ascertained, however, that it was impos- 
sible for him to survive, the only question being how long he 
would linger. All through the weary hours of the night and early 
morning tlie President lay hnconscious, as he had been ever since 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 221 

his assassination. He was watched by several faithful friends, in 
addition to near relatives. At his bedside were the Secretary of 
War, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Postmaster 
General, and the Attorney General, Senator Sumner, Gen. Farns- 
worth. Gen. Todd, cousin of Mrs. Lincoln ; Maj. Hay, M. B. Field, 
Gen. Halleck, Maj. Gen. Meigs, the llev. Dr. Gurley, Gen. Oglesby, 
of Illinois, and Drs. E. N. Abbott, K K. Stone, C. D. Hatch, Neal, 
Hall, and Lieberman. 

MRS. LINCOLN'S GRIEF. 

In the adjoining room were Mrs. Lincoln, her son, Capt. Robert 
Lincoln, Miss Harris, Rufus S. Andrews, and two lady friends of 
Mrs. Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln was under great excitement and agony, 
exclaiming again and again : " Why did he not shoot me instead of 
my husband V" She was constantly going back and forth to the bed- 
side of the President, crying out in the greatest agony : *' How can 
it be so?" The scene was heartrending in the extreme, and all 
were greatly overcome. Mrs. Lincoln took her leave of her hus- 
band about twenty minutes before his death. When she was told 
he had breathed his last she exclaimed: "Oh! Why did you not 
tell me he was dying ?" The surgeons and members of the Cabinet, 
Senator Sumner, Capt. Robert Lincoln, Gen. Todd, Mr. Field, and 
Mr. Andrews were standing at his bedside when he died. The 
surgeons were sitting on the foot of the bed, holding the President's 
hands and with watches observing the slow declension of the pulse, 
and such was the stillness for some minutes that the ticking of the 
watches could be heard in the room. At twenty-two minutes past 
7 a. m. on April 15. the looked for but dreaded end came, and as he 
drew his last breath the llev. Dr. Gurley offered up a prayer for the 
deceased's heart-broken family and the mourning country. The 
President died without a struggle, passing silently and calmly 
away, having been in a state of utter unconsciousness from the 
time he was shot till his death. All present in the silent death 
chamber felt the awful solemnity of the occasion, and the scene 
was heartrending and touching. Mrs. Lincoln, shortly after her 
husband's death, was driven, with her son Robert, to the AVhite 
House, where, but the evening before, she left for the last time 
with her honored husband, who was never again to enter that 
home alive. 

Long before the President expired the authorities were per- 
fectly satisfied as to who committed the terrible deeds, aud the 
city and military authoi'ities commenced the investigation, and 
while the Cabinet and other ministers were watching over tha 



222 AS^JSSWATJON OF 

President every effort was made to capture the murderers. Cour 
iers mounted on deet hoises rushed to and fro, and the sound of 
the lioofs of horses was lieard in all directions. The city and 
military authorities worked with energy and vigilance, and the 
tidings at last came tliat one of the liorses had been captured, 
nearly exhausted, at tlie outskirts of the city, and that its bridle 
WHS covered with blood. The animal was identified as the horne 
ridden by the assassin from Seward's residence. This gave a good 
deal of hope that tlie author of the horrible crime might be cap- 
tured. 

THK EI rr.CT OF THK PKESIDEKT's DEATH. 

The news of the President's deiith fell like a pall over the city, 
and before long every house was draped in mourning. It seemed 
that all were engaged in the sad tribute to the departed. The 
Department buildings were tastefully draped, the War Depari^- 
ment being literally covered. The pillars and the entire front 
were richly festooned with black. The hotels, private residences, 
and places of business were also appropriately dressed. In short, 
a mantle of gloom was thrown over the entire National Capital 
Flags from the Departments and throughout the city lloated at 
half-mast, and nearly all private and public business w;is sus- 
pended. The grief felt was widespread, and the deepest gloom 
and sadness prevailed on all sides. The President's corpse wa« 
removed to the White House before noon, and a dense crowd 
accompanied the remains. After an autopsy had been made on 
the corpse it was embalmed and placed in a handsome mahoganj 
coflSn, on which was a silver plate bearing the inscription: 

: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, : 

: Sixteenth President of the United States. : 

\ Born February 12, 1809. \ 

: Died April 15. ISGo. : 

In the evening City Councils, clergy, and others held meetings 
to oilicially express regret at the President's death. Although 
nothing was talked of during the day but the atrocious iissassinar 
tion and attempted assassination made by Secession sympathizers 
and desperadoes, there was no disturbance of any kind, and by 
nigiit time the streets were quiet and the excitement gradually 
subsiding. In the nu-antime every effort was being made to cap- 
ture the assassins. Every road leading out of Washington was 
strongly picketed, and every avenue of escape thoroughly 



PIiE81J)ENT LINCOLN. 223 

guarded, and stoamboats about to start down tlio Potomac were 
stopped. A rumor jirevailed that Wilkes IJootli liad been cap- 
tured, and this helped tokeep the indignation of ilu; prophi as fierce 
as ever, ;vnd to keep up the excitement, though the rumor turned 
out to be without founthition. 

THE NOKTII IN MOURNING. 

Sunday, the Ifith. was a solemn and mournful day in Washing- 
ton.as also in every city in the States. The churches were crowded, 
and not a sermon was preached but the tragic occurrence was 
touchingly alluded to. During the day it was learned that all 
members of the Seward family were recovering from their in- 
juries, and general satisfaction was expressed that Secretary Sew- 
ard had not fallen a victim to tlie assassin's blow. The interior of 
the White House all day presented a scene of overwhelming sad- 
ness. The body of the Chief Magistrate of the Nation was 
temporarily laid out in one of the upper rooms of the house. The 
body was dressed in the suit of plain black worn by him on the 
occasion of his last inauguration, while on his pillow and over the 
breast were scattered affectionate offerings in the shape of white 
flowers and green leaves. During the evening it was made known 
that the funeral services would take place Wednesday, the 19th, 
and that the President's body would be interred at Springfield, 
111. On Monday the person who assaulted Secretary Seward was 
arrested as he was about to enter the house of Mrs. Surratt in the 
little village of Unionto^vn. An intense excitement prevailed 
when it was learned that detectives were on Booth's tracks. 
Several persons supposed to be concerned in these murderous out- 
rages were placed under arrest. On Monday the body of the mur- 
dered President lay in state in the coffin, which was placed on a 
grand catafalque erected in the East Room of the White House. 
The room was heavily draped in mourning and a guard of 
honor surrounded the coffin. The populace by thousands gathered 
at the White House and there viewed the body. The trains dur- 
ing the night and morning rought hundreds of distinguished 
visitors to the city from all portions of the North. All the streets 
leading to the White House were throngeil with people from early 
morn till late at night wending their Avay to the spot where rested 
the sarcophagus in which was conlhied the cold and motionless 
form of him who but a few days since had hold of the helm of the 
ship of State. The universality of the mourning was remarkable. 
Old and young, rich and poor, all sexes, grades and colors, united 
in paying their homage to the great and illustrious dead, and one 



224 ASSASSINATION OF 

of the most toiichingsights was that of the wounded soldiers from 
the liospilals, who came tu have a long, last look at the face of the 
late President and honored Counnander-in-Chief. 

THE rUNEKAL SEUVICES. 

On Wednesday morning a funeral service was held at the White 
House, at which were present a large nunil)er of clergymen repre- 
senting various sections of the country. The heads of Bureaus, 
the Sanitary and Christian Commissfons, the Governors, Assistant 
Secretaries, Congressmen, ollicers of the Supreme Court, the Diplo- 
matic Corps, the Juilges of the local Courts, the pall-bearer3» 
ladies of the Government oflicials, the chief mourners. President 
Johnson and Cabinet, the members of the family, and the ushers. 
The wiiole scene presented in the room was one of solemnity, and 
a single feeling ajtpeared manifest among all, and that was grief. 
The services were conducted by the Rev. Dr. Hall, of the 
Episcopal Cliurch. in the city, and the funeral oration was 
delivered by the Rev. Dr. Gurley, pastor of the Presby- 
terian Church in the city, which Mr. Lincoln and his family 
were in the habit of attending. At the close of these services the 
the funeral cortege started for the Capital, Every window, 
housetop, balcony, and every inch of sidewalk on either side was 
densely crowded with a living throng to witness the procession. 
The beat of the funeral drum sounded upon the street, and the 
cortege marched with solemn tread and arms reversed. The pro- 
cession consisted of a large military escort, including a body of 
dismounted otiicers of the army and navy and marine corps. Fol- 
lowing these came the civic authorities, and after them the fun- 
eral car, drawn by six gray horses. A long line of sad and weep- 
ing relatives of the deceased followed in carriages. Next came 
President Johnson, accompanied by 'Mr. Preston King, of New 
Yoik, with a strong cavalry guard on either side. Ihe rest of the 
procession consisted of the Cabinet and diplomatic corps. Judges 
of the Supreme Court, and clerks of the Departments, and was 
closed by l,r>()0 well-dressed negroes of various organizations. The 
procession was one hour and a half passing a given point; it con- 
tained 18,000 persons, and was witnessed by "at least 150,000 
peojjle. After the body had been phiced in the Capitol, the Rev. 
Dr. Gurley read the burial service, at the close of which the out- 
side procession slowly disjjerscd. The body of the late President 
lay in slate in the Capitol all that day and through the night, 
attended by,a guard of honor and viewed by an immense number 
of citizens. 



PREStDBNT Lll^COLI^. 226 

Ear'y on Frida}' moniinp:, tlie 21st, the bod}' was carried to the 
depot of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and the distinguished 
party that was to accoini)any the remains to Springlieltl, 111., left 
on their sad errand by the half-past 7 a. m. train. The route was 
as follows, and the arrangements were all carried out to perfec- 
tion, there being no delays on the journey : From AVashington to 
Baltimore, Baltimore to Ilarrisburg, llarrisburg to Philadelphia, 
Philadelphia to New i'ork. New York to Albany, Albany to liuf- 
falo, Bufifalo to Cleveland, Cleveland to Columbus, Columbus to 
Indianapolis, Indianapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Springfield. All 
the towns along the route were draped in mourning, and at the 
cities above mentioned, where the funeral train stopped, the cofRn 
was removed from the funeral car and borne in solemn and 
majestic procession through the streets to the principal public 
building in each city, where suitable ceremonies were performed, 
and the sad procession in each city witnessed by thousands of cit- 
izens and visitors from neighboring towns. The funeral train 
reached Springfield, 111., on the 4th of May, on which day the body 
of the deceased President was interred in the Oak llidge Cemetery 
amid much funeral pomp and ceremony. 

THE ASSASSINS ARRESTED. 

It was some days after the assassination of President Lincoln 
before the indignation of the public was somewhat calmed at 
learning of the arrests of those implicated in the assassination of 
the Preiident and in the assaults on the Seward family. A reward 
of $.">0,000 was offered for the arrest of Booth, 825,000 for the 
arrest of Atzerot, and a like sum for that of D. C. Harrold, the 
latter two being known to be specially implicated in the assassi- 
nation and the attempted assassination. Lewis Payne was ar- 
rested April 15 at AVashington, at the house of Mrs. Surratt. Oa 
being taken before the servant at Mr. Seward's house he was im- 
mediately recognized as the person who attempted to assassinate 
Secretary Seward. With him were arrested Mrs. Surratt and oth- 
ers in the same house. Atzerot was arrested on April 20 near 
Middlebury. Montgomery Co., Md. On April 25th J. Wilkes Booth 
was overtaken by a party sent out by Col. L. C. Baker, special 
detective of the War Department. Booth and Harrold had been 
traced together across theKappahunnocklliver at Mathias Point, 
Md.,and were found on Tuesday evening, April 25, in a barn about 
three miles from Port Royal. The barn was surrounded, and, 
although Harrold was willing to give himself up, Bootu refused 
to surrender. Finally the barn was fired. Harrold then gave 



226 GARFIELD'S MAZIM8. 

himself up. but Booth jn-opared to defend himself. Lieut. Doch- 
erty, couimaiidiiig the party, oi'di-ied iSerj^t. Cuibett to fire, which 
he did through one of tlie crevices and shot Booth through the 
head. Upon being shot Booth exclaimed, "It is all up now; I'm 
gone!" lie was found to be woundec^ in the head, and died about 
two hours after he was shot. The other important arrests made 
were Dr. Mudd.at whose house Booth was known to have stoppei. 
when in Maryland; Edward Spangler, of Ford's Theatre; Michael 
O'Laughlin. and Samuel Arnold. These, with Atzerot, Ilarrold, 
and :Mrs. Surratt, were arraigned on Saturday, May lo, and after a 
lengthy trial, Harrold, Payne, Atzerot. and JSIrs. Surratt were sen- 
tenced to be executed, and were hanged on July 7 at Washington. 



Garfield's Maxims. 
—I WOULD rather be beaten in liight than succeed in Wrong. 

— I FEEL a piofounder reverence for a Boy than for a man. I 
never meet; a ragged Boy in the street without feeling tiiat I may 
owe him a salute, for 1 know not what possibilities may be but- 
toned up under his coat. 

— PiiESENT Evils always seem greater than those that never 
come. 

— Ll'CK is an ignis-fatuus. You may follow it to Ewin, but 
never to Success. 

—A POUND of Pluck is worth a ton of Luck. 

— Foi: the noblest man that lives there still remains a Conflict' 

—The principles of Ethics have not changed by the lapse of 
years. 

— Growth is better than Permanence, and permanent growth 
is better than all. 

—It is no honor or proht merely to appear in the arena. The 
Wreath is for those who contend. 

— After the battle of Arms comes the battle of History. 

— There is a fellowship among the Virtui'S by which one 
great, generous passion stimulates another. 

—The privilege of being a Young Man is a great privilege, and 
the privilege of growing uj) to be an independent Man in middle 
life is a greater. 

— Xo Man can make a speech alone. It is the great liuman 
powei tiiat strikes up from a thousand minds that acts upon hiuj 
and makes the speech. 

— We hold reunions, not for the Dead, for there is nothing in 
all tho earth that you antl I can do for the Dead. They arc patit 



GARFIELD'S MAXIMS. 227 

our help find past our pniipo. Wprnii .nrld to thrni no glory, we 
can give to them no inm (utiilily. 'Jl.cydonot need iis. but for- 
ever and forever more we need tlitm— (i^jjt-tc/i of Utveta. Atiy.S, 
1880. 

— XoTiiiNO is more nncertain than the result of any one throw; 
few things more certain than the result of many tiiruws. 

—If the power to do hard work is nut Talent, it is the hest pos- 
sible substitute for it. 

— OccASiox mav be the bugle-call that summons an army to 
battle, but the blast of a bugle can never make Soldiers or win 
Victories. 

-Things don't turn up in this World until somebody turns 
them up. 

—We cannot study Nature profoundly without bringing our-, 
selves into communion with the bpirit of Art, which prevades 
and tills the Universe. 

—If there be one thing upon this Earth tliat maiddnd love 
and admire better tlian another.it is a brave Man— it -is a 
man wlio dares to look the Devil in the face and tell him he is a 
Devil. 

—It is one of the precious mysteries of Sorrow that it finds 
solace in unsellish Thought. 

— Tkue akt is but the anti-type of Nature— the embodim.ent of 
discovered Beauty in utility. 

—Every character is the joint product of Nature and Nur- 
ture. 

, _IIe was one of the few great Eulers whose wisdom increased 
with his power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer as hiS 
Triumphs were multiplied.— CmrioviOJi Abraham Lincoln. 

—The Problems to be solved in the study of human life and 
character are these: Given the Character of a Man ami the con- 
ditions of life around him, A\ hat will be his Career? Or. given 
liis Character and Career, of what kind were his Surroundings? 
The relation of these three factors to each other is severely logicah 
From them is deduced all genuine History. Character is the 
chief element, for it is both a Result and a Cause— a result of In- 
fluence and a cause of Kesults. 

— PoM'EPv exhibits itself under two distinct forms— Strengthand 
Porce— each poi-se?sing jieculijir qualities and each jierftn-t in its 
own spliere. " Stiength is typified by the Oak, the Pock, the 
Mountain. Foice embodies itself in the Cataract, the Tempest, 
the Thunderbolt. 

-The possession of great Powers no doubt carries with it a 
contempt for mere external Show. 

—To a voimg IMan who has in himself the magnificent possibili- 
ties of liie it is nut fitting that he should be permanently ccun- 



828 GARFIELI/S MAXIMS. 

mniided ; he should be a Commander. You must not continue to 
he the employed . You must be an employer! You must be pro- 
moled Irom llie ranks to a command. There is something, young 
.Man, whicli you can command— go and lind it and command it. 
Do not, I beseech you, be content to enter upon any Business 
which does not require and compel constant intellectual Growth. 

— In order to have any success in life, or any worthy success, 
you must resolve to carry into your work a fullness of Knowl- 
edge—not merely a Sufficiency, but more than a Sufficiency. 

—Be fit for more than the Thing you are now doing. 

—If you are not too large for the Place you are too small 
for it. 

— Young Men talk of trusting to the Spur of the Occasion. 
That trust is vain. Occasions cannot make Spurs. If you ex- 
pect to wear Spurs you must win them. If you wish to use them 
you must buckle them to your own heels before you go into the 
Fight. 

— The Student should study himself, his relation to Society, to 
Nature and Art— and above all, in all, and through all tiiese, he 
should stiuly the relations of Himself, Society, Nature and Art to 
God the Author of them all. 

—Great Ideas travel slowly and for a time noiselessly, as the 
gods whose Feet were shod with wool. 

— The world's history is a Divine Poem of which the history 
of eveiy Nation is a canto and every Man a word. Its strains 
have been pealing along down the centuries, and though there 
have been mingled the discords of warring, cannon and dying 
men, yet to the Christian, Philosopher and Historian— the humble 
listener- -there has been a divine melody running through the 
song which speaks of hope and halcyon days to come. 

— TiiTJTH is so related and correlated that no department of her 
realm is wliolly isolated. 

—Liberty can be safe only when suffrage is illuminated by 
education. 

—The scientific spirit has cast out the Demons and presented 
us with Nature, clothed in her right mind and living under the 
reign of law. It has given us for the sorceries of tiie Alcliemist, 
the beautiful laws of cliemistry ; tor the dreams of the Astrol- 
oger, the sublime truths of astronomy; for the wild visions of 
Cosmogony, the monumental records of geology, for the anarchy 
of Diabolism, the laws of God. 

-The American peoi)le have done much for the Locomotive, 
and the Locomotive lias done much for them. 

— I i.ovE to believe that no heroic sacrifice is ever lost, that the 
cliaracters of men are moulded and inspired by what their fathers 
havedouc; tiiiit, treasurecl up in American souls are all the un- 
conscious infiut-nces of the great deeds of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
from Ajj'incourL to Bunker HilL 



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